Discussing the Identity of the College as a Liberal Arts Institution: Forum (Introductory Remarks)

(This is part of the record of the Discussion of the College Identity undertaken in 2006 at the request of the Faculty Senate. Click here for the main page of this section.)

Introductory Remarks by Simon Lewis

When we started this process at the end of last year I have to tell you that frankly I was nervous. As my open letter to the Provost indicated back in November -- and speaking now personally again -- I had discovered that I was far more invested in the idea of the College of Charleston as a lib arts institution than I had thought. So when we were setting this process up in January, using Lynne Ford's concept and Alex Kasman's extremely effective program that brought people together in groups of 5 across disciplines, across schools, across ranks and had us all talking to colleagues we'd never even met before on a set of questions phrased as openly as we could devise, we had no idea what the outcome would be. Would it point to an irrevocable and unhealthy split, would it reveal a pervasive apathy and lack of commitment? Was it going to show me that I'd always been deluded about the nature of the college, or that over the 10 years I've been here its ethos had imperceptibly shifted? Maybe colleagues in other departments and other schools had been given a different impression of the College when they were recruited; maybe more of my colleagues than I thought were fundamentally frustrated and miserable, wishing they were working somewhere else, at a different kind of institution. Maybe, our apparently foundational documents--the strategic plan, the core values, the 4th Century Initiative would prove to be void of content and shown up as consumer-driven slogans rather than as expressions of pedagogical first principles.

The results, however, have shown otherwise. They've been overwhelming. Between the middle of January and the end of February more than 80% of full-time teaching faculty and librarians met and conversed, for an hour or so each, on the topic of the College's identity. They -- you -- we did so with a level of seriousness, engagement, and openness that is fully reflected in the 79 reports of the round 1 conversations, openly trying to determine what a liberal arts and sciences institution is and then ascertaining -- in very practical terms -- the advantages and disadvantages of this College's calling itself a public liberal arts university. We have attempted to summarize these conversations in the document you will have picked up as you came in. And while we have scrupulously listed potential disadvantages as well as the potential advantages, these conversations have shown that this faculty overwhelmingly believes that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. With an astounding, almost incredible, degree of unanimity, these conversations assert that this faculty believes in liberal education and sees the advantages of the College of Charleston continuing to call itself a liberal arts school, with 85% -- according to the vote -- wanting to retain that designation. This is surely a healthy, reassuring outcome that clearly establishes a solid belief in the liberal arts as a core value and as a guiding first principle for the college.

The questions now confronting us as the college moves forward therefore concern what to do with this information and its implicit reaffirmation of faith in the strategic plan to become a nationally preeminent public liberal arts and sciences university. What are the implications in the face of some of the very real issues that these conversations have also brought out in public: the shape and extent of our general education curriculum; the shape and extent of graduate programs that may be necessary in order to meet the College's public mission; the scope for expansion of existing programs and the desirability of adding new majors; and, perhaps most critically of all, the task of explaining to the public -- our students and their parents, donors, and legislators that no matter how slippery it is to define, there's no better credential for successful employment, successful citizenship and successful participation in life than a liberal education. For the next hour or so, these are the questions we hope that your questions will address.