Art History has never been thought of as a 'core' subject at Durham. There has never been an option for a single honours degree (unlike so many of the other top UK universities.) Instead, it was incorporated into the Education Department and students could opt in to modules. For many Liberal Arts students, Art History has, regardless of the university's attempts to belittle it, been an enormous part of our degrees, with many going on to do their dissertations in it. 

Now we have learnt that Durham is in the process of entirely phasing out Art History as a subject. We feel that this is a big mistake. History of Art allows us to engage academically with important cultural and historical themes just as much as many of the humanities do. The fact that it was not available as a single honours degree in the first place is disgraceful, but we never thought that it would disappear completely.

Dr. Anthony Parton has taught for 20 years and inspired countless students. He has been committed to the university and fought to make Durham recognise Art History as a subject in its own right. Now that he is leaving, we feel that we should continue his fight and ask Durham to reconsider.