June 16, 2000

At the University of Cambridge, Slings and Arrows for the Bard

By DAVID WALKER

A course on Shakespeare would no longer be compulsory for students of English at the University of Cambridge -- if a faculty proposal goes through. Some leading British scholars of Shakespeare are aghast that the university is even discussing the idea.

The English department at Cambridge is considering a plan to drop the requirement that all of its undergraduates take a course dedicated to the works of the 17th-century dramatist and poet. Instead, Shakespeare would be studied only as a