Levytsky initiative

The purpose of the Levytsky Initiative is to provide the first framework for the recognition of qualifications in the field of Quadrivium Studies. The Levytsky Initiative offers specialist recognition for qualifications from the US, UK, and Europe to be considered equivalent to a true Quadrivium education in the subject. Regulations governing the Framework are provided below. Changes or exceptions to the framework are possible only through a plenary vote of all Senior Fellows. The Don or administration of Athanasian Hall is in no way permitted to participate in such a vote. Fellows who have not obtained the rank of Senior Fellow may submit petitions for exceptions to the official process detailed here, but their votes are not formally registered on any ballot.    

Only members of Athanasian Hall (Junior Fellows, Fellows, or Senior Fellows) are permitted to apply for recognition of earned qualifications. The qualification(s) to be evaluated must have been earned at a university accredited by the relevant Ministries of Education of the countries of origin. In addition, the universities should be considered to possess excellent reputations in the field of application. This determination of the requisite level of excellence is made by the Academic Jury (see below). 

Only Master and Doctoral qualifications may be considered. In the case that a Master Qualification is approved, the applicant may write BA(Ante, Quadrivium). To be considered for recognition as a Quadrivium qualification by Athanasian Hall, a Master level qualification must include a substantive thesis of publishable quality. The dissertation must be of a theoretical nature and may not comprise part of a professional qualification.   To be considered for recognition as a Quadrivium qualification by Athanasian Hall, a doctoral qualification must include a dissertation of especially high academic quality. The requisite level of quality is determined by the Academic Jury. A reasonable heuristic is that the relevant qualification be considered sufficient to permit advancement to the rank of Assistant Professor or Lecturer at a department of established reputation. Practical doctorates shall not be considered for this purpose. Because the award is a classification of research excellence and not a diploma or degree, it must be designated as an "equivalent" classification to an existing diploma and is dated retroactively to the same date of conferral as the diploma that it classifies.  

A Fellow desiring Quadrivium equivalence of a given academic qualification must submit the requisite form (internal) with: (1) The signatures of at least two Senior Fellows; (2). The signatures of at least two external scholars at the rank of “Full Professor” in the primary discipline; (3). Copies of the qualification(s) to be considered for review. (1)-(3) above must be present for an application to be considered by the Academic Jury. A double-blind review procedure is initiated by the signatory Senior Fellows or external scholars. Per their selection, the applicant’s qualification(s) are anonymized and submitted for review by at least three additional external scholars chosen by the signatories. To award the status of Quadrivium equivalency, all reviewers must unanimously agree that a requisite standard of excellence has been achieved. This standard is inherently subjective and is negotiated by the reviewers in each field. 

As heuristics, the qualification(s) must meet all requirements listed above. In addition, dissertations must be judged to be of high merit in the Quadrivium and not merely a single subfield of it. Rather, scholars must demonstrate excellence in at least one stipulated field (the “Primary” field) and substantive contributions to at least one other field (the “secondary” field).   All decisions of the Academic Jury are final and unappealable. In outstanding cases, the Jury may vote to confer the additional citation of DSc (Quadrivium). 

This award signifies that the research submitted exceeds the standard required of a PhD and would be likely to classify the recipient as part of the top 1% of Europe’s scholars in a given field of Quadrivium Studies. The field(s) in which the DSc (Quadrivium) is cited must be clearly specified in the award. There are no primary or secondary designations with this award.   Athanasian Hall recognizes certain modern fields as equivalent to Quadrivium fields. Subject classifications are: 01 (Astronomy); 02 (Celestial Mechanics); 03 (Pure Mathematics); 04 (Music); 05 (Physics, Chemistry, or Biology relevant to 01-04 above); 06 (Philosophy or Theology of any of such subjects).