by Nannerl O. Keohane, Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, , and former President of Wellesley College (1981-1993) and Duke University (1993-2004)

The Liberal Arts and Presidential LEADERSHIP R Editor’s Note: This is the text of a speech given to the Council of Independent Colleges Presidential Institute on January 4, 2012.

I’m indeed honored to address this many times. I am especially fond of well to contemporary high-tech meth- gathering of leaders of colleges histori- Thomas Cronin’s definition of the lib- ods of imparting knowledge. cally committed to a strong liberal arts eral arts as “the liberating arts—free- We all wrestle with the challenges education, and glad that my husband ing us from prejudice, dogmatism, and of educating students who are used Robert Keohane, who is chairing the parochialism, from complacency, senti- to multitasking, doing their home- presidential search committee of his mentality, and hypocrisy, from sloppy work while listening to music on alma mater, Shimer College, is also at- reasoning and careless writing.” A lib- their I-phones, and texting on their tending the conference. All of us are eral arts education doesn’t always ac- I-pods. For such students, the web- here in part to celebrate the impres- complish all those things, but it surely based facilities of exciting liberal arts sive record of our campuses and reaf- gives us a good beginning. Cronin courses are particularly salient. What firm our commitment for the future. has presided over two liberal arts col- would Aristotle or Erasmus or Robert But there are also challenges that we leges, and his definition appears in a Maynard Hutchins not have given for need to face together. We should pool recent book entitled Leadership and a technique that allows one to tour the our ideas and energies, and think stra- the Liberal Arts, edited by J. Thomas world’s greatest museums, looking tegically about how we can most effec- Wren. Here’s another pungent defi- closely at the details of countless mas- tively champion liberal arts education nition of a liberal education by Louis terpieces, explore the ruins of ancient today and in the future. My task is to Menand, in The Marketplace of Ideas, castles and pyramids and forums, join set the stage for these discussions. as “a background mentality, a way of archeological digs at your desk, turning Here’s how I will proceed: first, I’ll thinking, a kind of intellectual DNA objects around to see all sides of them, say a few words about the liberal arts that informs work in every specialized visualize problems in geometry or as- as a historic phenomenon with much area of inquiry.” tronomy or mathematics in several di- resonance in our world today. Then Ironically, of course, this very mensions and work out their solutions. I’ll present four arguments that may broad, capacious form of education An excellent example of the power be useful to you as you confront the we call the liberal arts is rooted in a of multimedia coupled with the liberal skeptics. Finally, I’ll talk briefly about specific curriculum in classical and arts is a general education course some- leadership and how you can make medieval times, including rhetoric, times taught at Harvard University by a difference. arithmetic, geometry, the trivium, and Stephen Greenblatt as English 126, the quadrivium. But it would be wrong “Imaginary Journeys.” The course is The liberal arts through history to assume that because it has such an- described as being “about global mo- Any one of you here today could cient roots, this kind of education is bility, encounter, and exchange at the give a persuasive definition of the lib- outdated, stale, fusty, or irrelevant. The time that Harvard College was founded eral arts, and doubtless have done so liberal arts lend themselves particularly in 1636. Using the interactive resources

Winter 2014 — c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r 35 of computer technology, we follow of Melbourne and Western Australia, preparation for careers; and c) a grow- imaginary voyages of three ships that the Universities of Manchester and ing focus on graduate education from leave England in 1633. [Each student Warwick in the UK. He cites a major the early 20th century to the present is assigned to one of the ships, which address in London by Yale’s Richard day. These developments have clearly are separated by a storm and there- Levin in which Levin noted that “Asian not been beneficial for American un- fore visit different destinations and leaders are increasingly attracted to dergraduate education. experience different fates.] Sites in- the American model of undergraduate “Liberal education in crisis” is a clude London’s Globe Theatre, Benin, curriculum,” specifically because of tiresomely familiar theme, and count- Barbados, Brazil, Mexico.” The course the two years of breadth and depth in less commissions, reports, and study was inspired by Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road different disciplines provided before a groups have attempted to address it. I student chooses an area of concentra- am under no illusions that I have the tion or embarks on professional train- magic key to resolve a problem that has ing. Levin described liberal arts honors stumped so many brilliant educators. As a liberal arts programs at Peking University, Yonsei But these questions are not just theo- University in South Korea, and the retical quandaries for you. They are the education becomes National University of Singapore; he issues you confront almost every day: also referred to liberal arts curricula at how do we defend liberal education more appealing Fudan University, Nanjin University, against the skeptics—parents, potential and the University of Hong Kong. In students, the media, the marketplace, to leaders and her recent book entitled Not for Profit: even some trustees and students? families in Asia Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Martha Nussbaum notes that she has Arguments for the liberal arts and elsewhere been recently involved in discussions today about creating a liberal arts curricu- I will offer four arguments designed in the world, it is lum in the Netherlands, Sweden, India, to defend the liberal arts (as distinct Germany, Italy, and Bangladesh. from vocational or narrowly pre-pro- losing ground in Yet, as we know, the trends in the fessional training) as the best education U.S. are in the opposite direction. And for undergraduates. I’ll discuss these the U.S. this is not just a recent problem. Louis arguments in order from the narrowest Menand cites evidence that in the U.S., to the most capacious, so you can take project, and the website provides an in- “the proportion of undergraduate de- your pick depending on your audience credible wealth of material from many grees awarded annually in the liberal or your personal preference. different sources—music, art, litera- arts and sciences has been declining The first, most practical defense: ture, architecture, history, geography. for a hundred years, apart from a brief I would argue that the liberal arts (and With this kind of course in mind, it rise between 1955 and 1970, which was sciences) are the best possible prepara- seems that the liberal arts could almost a period of rapidly increasing enroll- tion for success in the learned profes- have been designed for sophisticated ments and national economic growth.” sions—law, medicine, teaching—as well online learning, so far from being stale Thus, paradoxically, as a liberal arts as in the less traditionally learned but or fusty are these ways of knowing. education becomes more appealing to increasingly arcane professions of busi- And this kind of education is more leaders and families in Asia and else- ness, finance, and high-tech innovation. and more appealing to students and where in the world, it is losing ground There are many ways to study teachers at universities around the in our own country. any discipline; the subjects that make world. Donald Markwell, the warden At least three factors are at work in up the liberal arts curriculum are not of , recently gave a se- this decline: a) the creation of increas- themselves inherently liberal. As our ries of lectures in Canada, entitled “The ingly specialized disciplines, and the colleague President Lynn Pasquarella Need for Breadth.” He referred to a rewards for faculty members of ad- of Mt. Holyoke has recently reminded “surge of interest” in liberal education vancing knowledge in those areas; b) us, one can study the humanities in a in “many other countries.” He men- the economic premium that is thought technical rather than a liberal fashion— tions new programs at the Universities to reside in a highly technical form of narrow, esoteric, with no attempt to

36 c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r — Winter 2014 broaden or challenge the mind to con- incorporate the material into your own to major in religion and she still doesn’t sider critically what one has learned. thinking in ways that will be much have a job!” Nancy gently pointed out And one can also study biology or more likely to stay with you, and help that the young woman had graduated physics, or anthropol- you later on. There are several distinct only a few minutes earlier and assured ogy, even economics, in a more or less advantages of this way of learning: it’s the mother that things would almost liberal fashion. So my first claim is that insurance against obsolescence; in any certainly work out. And sure enough, a liberal arts education, including a lib- rapidly changing field (and every field a few weeks ago the mother was rid- erally oriented study of the natural and is changing rapidly these days), if you ing a bike across the Princeton campus social sciences, presents material in a only focus on learning specific mate- and stopped to say hello to Nancy, and context that will be much more useful rials that are pertinent in 2012, rather said: “Guess what? My daughter did to budding lawyers or physicians or than learning about them in a broader get a job! She was volunteering at a venture capitalists than a narrowly con- context, you will soon find that you non-profit global organization and they strued preparation in their “own field.” have no use for these bits of knowledge were really impressed that she could For example, if you study neuro- and your training will have become write so clearly and elegantly, do re- science with a sense of awe about the valueless. Most important, with a lib- search on any topic she was assigned to complexities of the human brain, and eral education you will have learned cover, assemble the evidence to make some attention to questions about what how to learn, so that you will be able to persuasive arguments, and analyze it means to be human, not just a tech- do research to answer questions in your complex problems, so they offered her nical focus on the darting neurons, or field that will come up years from now, a job.” study biology with an awareness of the questions that nobody could even have These are the skills a liberal arts bewildering diversity and richness of envisioned in 2012, much less taught education instills in us. They were our natural world rather than attend- you how to answer. That’s all part of well described by no less an author- ing only to the way the molecules fit the first defense! ity than a former dean of Harvard Law together, you will have a better back- The second, slightly less utilitarian School, Erwin Griswold, cited in a re- ground as a physician when you go to defense of a liberal arts education is cent speech by Dean Martha Minow. med school, or a scientist when you get that it hones the mind, teaching focus, Griswold was discussing an ideal vi- your PhD Surely your bedside manner critical thinking, and the ability to sion of the Law School, but his argu- or your classroom techniques will also express oneself clearly both in writ- ments fit a liberal education wherever it be much improved! And if you study ing and speaking—skills which are of is provided: “You go to a great School some history and philosophy, you will great value no matter what profession not so much for knowledge as for arts or be much better prepared as a lawyer or you may choose. It’s not just that you habits; for the art of expression, for the financier than if you study only law, are taught specific materials in a liber- art of entering quickly into another per- or a narrowly construed pre-business ally designed context, but more gener- son’s thoughts, for the art of assuming program. Our eldest granddaugh- ally, the way your mind is shaped, the at a moment’s notice a new intellectual ter Charlotte (a very happy although habits of thought that you develop. position, for the habit of submitting to slightly chilly first-year student at When I discussed this talk with censure and refutation, for the art of in- Bowdoin College this year, and a pro- Nancy Malkiel, a Smith graduate who dicating assent or dissent in graduated spective MD) is going to major in neu- was dean of the college at Princeton terms, for the habit of regarding minute roscience, which is taught at Bowdoin for 24 years, she told me a story that points of accuracy, for the art of work- in a way that surely engages critical makes this point exactly. As dean, ing out what is possible in a given time; thinking and liberal learning. Nancy worked hard to create appeal- for taste, for discrimination, for mental So my first defense of liberal learn- ing incentives for students to major in courage, and mental soberness.” That’s ing is what you are taught and the some of the less frequented fields, to the second argument. way you learn it: the materials a take the pressure off econ or poli sci. At My third argument for a liberal arts doctor or financial analyst or physi- Princeton’s commencement last year, education is that a liberal arts educa- cist or humanist needs to know, but the mother of a student Nancy had ad- tion is the best education for citizen- taught in a liberally construed fash- vised, who had chosen quite happily to ship in a democracy like our own. In ion, so that you look at the subject major in religion, accosted her and said: the book I cited earlier, Not for Profit, from many different dimensions and “Dean Malkiel, you told my daughter Martha Nussbaum points out that from

Winter 2014 — c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r 37 the early years of our republic, educators When I was at Wellesley and Duke, whether they chose it or it was imposed and leaders have “connected the liberal I occasionally used a memorable image on them. arts to the preparation of informed, at convocation as the new academic Countless students and their par- independent, and sympathetic…citi- year began. With due credit, I bor- ents have told me that they recalled that zens.” Nussbaum argues that democra- rowed it from Michel de Montaigne’s image of the “back room of the mind” cies need “complete citizens who can 16th-century essay, “Of Solitude.” many years afterwards and had found it think for themselves, criticize tradition, Montaigne lived an active life in many helpful through many periods in their and understand the significance of an- ways, with family, friends, political po- lives. Virginia Woolf used a different other person’s sufferings and achieve- sitions, much travel; but he was excep- spatial image to make a similar point ments.” She lists the skills democratic tionally well aware of the importance in her book Three Guineas, when she citizens need: to “think well about of occasional solitude. Montaigne’s talked about the importance of cultivat- political issues affecting the nation; favorite place for writing and reflec- ing taste and the knowledge of the arts to recognize fellow citizens as people tion was the tower library on his estate and literature and music. She argues with equal rights; to have concern for in Southwestern France, to which he that people who are so caught up in the lives of others; to grasp what poli- climbed by a series of narrow staircases their professions or business that they cies of many types mean for the oppor- reaching to the very top of his domain, never have time to listen to music or tunities and experiences of one’s fellow with a view of the vineyards and grain- look at pictures lose the sense of sight, citizens; to imagine well a variety of fields, a ceiling carved with some of his the sense of sound, the sense of propor- complex issues affecting the story of favorite quotations, and lines of books tion. And she concludes: “What then a human life; to judge political lead- and manuscripts around the shelves. remains of a human being who has lost ers critically, but with an informed and If you visit his estate, you can still see sight, sound and a sense of proportion? realistic sense of the possibilities avail- that library and understand directly Only a cripple in a cave.” able to them; to think about the good what his life was like. One more spatial image in support of the nation as a whole, not just that Inspired by that beloved space, of this fourth argument, from a recent of one’s local group,” and “to see one’s Montaigne used the arresting image speech by my successor as president of own nation, in turn, as part of a compli- of the “back room of the mind.” He Duke University, Richard Brodhead. cated world order.” These are the kinds thought of his own mind as a kind of Dick Brodhead is an eminent scholar of of skills a liberal arts education fosters. tower library to which he could re- American literature and strong propo- At a time when democracy is strug- treat even when he was far from home, nent of the liberal arts. He spoke of the gling to be born in countries around filled with quotations from wise people human capacity to “make things that the world, and countries that have long and experimental thoughts and jokes outlive their makers,” and he asserted enjoyed democracy are struggling to and anecdotes, where he could keep that as we make or enjoy such things, sustain it against pressures of multiple company with himself. He suggested “we go out in spirit toward the works varieties, this may be the best of all the that we all have such back rooms in our of others.” Humans have the distinctive arguments for a liberal arts education. minds, and that the most valuable and ability, he continued, “to exit the con- We need citizens who can think for attractive people we know are those fines of our own experience and take up themselves, who can assess arguments who have rich and fascinating intel- mental residence in spaces created by made by people who have a stake in a lectual furniture in those spaces rather others.” And when we do so “with suf- particular outcome, attend to nuances than a void between their ears. When ficient intensity of feeling, we in turn in difficult policy situations, and re- I used this image I would counsel stu- have a chance to be changed. This is spect the interests and the dignity of dents to think of their college educa- the way we annex understandings that others who are not like them. tion as above all a way of furnishing have been struggled toward by others The fourth argument for a liberal the “back rooms of their minds.” In that we would never have reached on education, in addition to the way ma- this way, they would be much better our own. This is how we get to see the terials are presented, the habits of mind conversationalists, so that their com- world differently from the way our own that are instilled, and the preparation pany would be sought out by others, minds or culture habitually present it.” for democratic citizenship, is even rather than being regarded as a sim- One example here: in addition to broader; it is in many ways my favorite pleton or a bore, and they would also neuroscience, my Bowdoin grand- of the four. be better prepared to relish solitude, daughter Charlotte is also planning to

38 c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r — Winter 2014 concentrate in art history, a passion that a book with that title in 1997. And rical ability, and even take some risks. she never knew she had until she got it nicely loops back to my third and Don’t feel you have to confine your to Bowdoin and discovered the excel- fourth arguments: liberal knowledge, arguments to sober and conventional lent museum, fine arts department, and sweet and powerful, broadens our per- arenas. However, you also have to be engaging colleagues. Although there spective beyond the narrow confines of savvy and cagey, or your theatricality are good art works in her home, no one our own experience, and makes us good can backfire; as Cronin says, this is a in her family is an artist, so this is not citizens not just of our countries, but of particularly baffling kind of art. something she cared much about as she the whole world. As the time-honored In my book Thinking about was growing up; instead, it’s a newly phrase used by the presidents of several Leadership, I define a leader as follows: discovered personal dimension that will colleges and universities in conferring “Leaders determine or clarify goals for a enrich her life immeasurably going for- the baccalaureate degree would have it, ward. And that’s my fourth argument “I welcome you to the company of edu- for a liberal arts education: furnishing cated men and women.” the back room of your mind, preparing So, five nested arguments for the A liberal arts yourself for both society and solitude. liberal arts: a) providing the “deep My final argument for the liberal background” materials people need for education arts will resonate with many of you in their professions and business occupa- this gathering, although it is unlikely tions, in a long-term, capacious fashion admits you to to convince the skeptics. This is the ar- rather than a narrowly technical imme- gument that a liberal arts education diacy that will quickly become obso- a community admits you to a community of schol- lete; b) honing the mind with skills that of scholars, ars, both professional and amateur, are useful in any profession, and any spanning the ages. Here I would quote life; c) preparing us well for citizenship both professional one of my predecessors as president of in a democracy; d) furnishing the back Wellesley, Alice Freeman (later Alice room of the mind; and admitting us to a and amateur, Freeman Palmer). When she presided community of learned and curious men over Wellesley in the last part of the and women, making us better citizens spanning the ages. 19th century, it was quite unusual for not only for our communities and our girls to go to college (as indeed it still country, but the world. group of individuals and bring together is today in some parts of the world). the energies of members of that group She gave a well-known speech to an- Presidential leadership to accomplish those goals.” Leaders swer the repeated question she got Armed with these arguments and do this in all kinds of groups, from the from girls and their families, “Why others you will devise or read about, most informal committee to the larg- Go to College?” Alice Freeman said: how do you, as a college president, est nation state. The responsibilities of “We go to college to know, assured that go about making the case for the lib- the president of a college or university knowledge is sweet and powerful, that eral arts? What tactics should you use? are among the weightiest of the forms a good education emancipates the mind Here’s an especially delicious quote of leadership. If you take my definition and makes us citizens of the world.” from President Emeritus of Whitman as one guide to action, you can think of The sweet and powerful knowledge College Tom Cronin, who notes that your role as a presidential leader in this imparted by a liberal arts education “effective leadership remains in many way: you are clarifying what a liberal is specifically designed to fulfill this ways the most baffling of the perform- arts education means for your college promise, as no other kind of education ing arts. Intuition, flare, risk-taking, (and the world), and galvanizing the can be: it emancipates the mind, and and sometimes even theatrical ability energies of the faculty and trustees and makes us citizens of the world. come into play.” This point really res- student leaders to pursue that goal. In Alice Freeman Palmer’s phrase onates for me, as I’m sure it does for fact, one of the primary responsibilities “citizen of the world” has impec- some of you as well. Leadership is it- for you as president of a liberal arts col- cable liberal arts credentials. It was self an art, and to make the case for the lege is to support the liberal arts, which first coined by Plutarch to describe liberal arts you should be quite ready to are basic to the historic mission and Socrates. Martha Nussbaum published use your personal flare, intuition, theat- (Continued on page 71)

Winter 2014 — c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r 39 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP Continued from page 39 self-understanding of your institutions. Academic Council, and I used that op- very effectively on such occasions. There are a number of ways to do this; portunity to speak from the heart about Shortly after 9/11, when all our Duke I’ll briefly suggest four of them. the crucial importance of the liberal obligations and events had been can- First and most obvious, you should arts to help us deal thoughtfully with celled to allow everyone to focus on use the bully pulpit of the college presi- the horrors of that day. I paid homage, understanding what had happened and dency deliberately and effectively to of course, to the scientists and engi- honoring the dead, Bob and I decided make the case for the liberal arts. You neers who would help us understand spontaneously to drive to Wilmington, should consider how you can use the how buildings can be built to withstand to walk along the ocean at Wrightsville occasions of convocation, commence- shocks and exitways constructed; but I Beach. I was driving at one point, Bob ment, ground-breakings for new build- noted that nothing the engineers could was napping, and the local classical ings, speeches to the local Rotary Club teach us would keep crazed men from music station played the Fauré Requiem or the state 4-H club convention, ad- smashing large jets into tall buildings somewhere along a stretch of Interstate dresses to alumni clubs, all the kinds to make a point about their political 40 in eastern North Carolina. I listened of events where you are called upon to views. I talked about the importance of with intense emotion to the movement speak. This is a truly precious oppor- the social sciences in helping us under- entitled “Dona Eis Requiem,” “Give tunity that few other leaders have, to stand that human, social dimension of to Them .” I was overcome with address your community in situations 9/11 and do our best to prevent a repeti- emotion and had to pull over to the side where there is likely to be respectful tion of the day, and also understand and of the road. And as I told the Duke fac- attention to your message, at least for appreciate the motives and sacrifices of ulty, that was the first time I fully ac- awhile! Use the opportunity with zest! the people who gave their own lives to knowledged the sorrow and shock of A few minutes ago I referred to my save others. But I reserved my deepest the events, and found solace. having cited Montaigne on the “back praise for the humanities, which pro- This is the kind of use you can make room of the mind” at several convoca- vided the context and frameworks for of the bully pulpit: in your speeches tions, and mentioned how many stu- sharing and dealing with our grief and you can draw on the particular credibil- dents and their parents had later recalled shock. So many people spoke of how ity and dignity of the president, and use this phrase and how it had helped shape poetry or music had provided for them it to make the case for the education their lives. I remember also the speech the best, indeed the only way to grapple your college provides. I gave to the faculty of Duke soon after with what had happened. The second way you can use your 9/11. I was scheduled to present the As part of my speech I told a per- presidential leadership in supporting annual report of the president to the sonal story, as one can sometimes do the liberal arts is to “put your money

Winter 2014 — c a r n e g i e r e p o r t e r 71 where your mouth is.” That means advancing the liberal arts mission of 19th/early 20th-century poet who using your fund-raising skill and ob- your institution through their teaching. lived in Alexandria, from one of his ligations to raise money for exciting You can cite their innovative course best-known works, Ithaca. In transla- programs like Greenblatt’s “Imaginary work and impact on the lives of their tion: “When you start on your journey Journeys.” You can make this case ef- students, linking this specifically to the to Ithaca,/then pray that the road is fectively to foundations and generous power of the liberal arts. You can en- long,/full of adventure, full of knowl- alumni who remember their own liberal sure that these awards and recognitions edge.” This captures for me the lifelong arts education fondly, and thus enhance are appropriately highlighted in college learning aspect of a strong liberal arts the resources available for this purpose. publications and in messages to parents education, full of adventure, full of I remember with particular de- and prospective students. knowledge, and we hope that the road light a fund-raising conversation with One more way in which you can is long. Kathryn Wasserman Davis, a dedicated use your leadership as president, per- The second citation is a few lines Wellesley alumna and close friend. haps the most effective of all: you can from Emily Dickinson, 19th-century Kathryn wanted to make a major gift be a model for emulation, by others on American, written to a grieving friend: to the college to advance international campus and by the outside world, in “Intimacy with Mystery, after great understanding, which had been her the ways you use and embody liberal Space, will usurp it’s place/Moving own PhD field many decades earlier. arts learning in your own discourse, on in the Dark like Loaded Boats at Together we worked to an outcome both formal and informal. If you cite Nights,/though there is no Course, that gave joy to both of us and many examples of fine literature, draw on there is Boundlessness.” A good liberal other people: Kathryn’s gift would instances from history, refer to the arts arts education makes us intimate with be the naming, foundational gift for a and describe learning in the sciences in mystery, and also helps us move in the new art museum at Wellesley, a badly liberal terms, you will set an example dark by providing a sense of byways needed enhancement of our liberal arts for others and have an influence greater through the boundlessness. mission. We had one of the earliest than you may expect. Rhetoric was one And the final poem, in Arabic, is by and best art history departments in the of the original artes liberales, and it can Al-Sha’afi: country, and a fine collection mostly still be one of the most transformative. According to the measure of hard- donated by alumnae and their fami- ship are heights achieved, lies, but only paltry and badly designed Conclusion And he who seeks loftiness must space to show and study these works Taking my own advice about lard- keep vigil by night; of art. Kathryn and I agreed that art is ing your language with liberal learn- As for he who wants heights with- a truly international language and that ing, I will conclude by quoting from out toil, Wellesley’s museum would include three poems I discovered in a brochure He wastes his life seeking the im- works that would speak directly to that on a recent visit to the Georgetown possible— purpose, works from many countries University School of Foreign Service So seek nobility now, then sleep and eras. And after our partnership in in Doha, Qatar. Each poem is about once more (finally), building the museum Kathryn herself journeying; I was myself on a fasci- He who seeks pearls must dive into took up painting in her 80s, and has be- nating journey, visiting universities the sea.” come a highly respected artist on Mt. in the Gulf States, where I had never As this final poem reminds us, a lib- Desert Island, Maine. been; and I was impressed to find ten eral arts education is not always easy; it In addition to using your bully pul- poems in different languages featured involves close attention, taking risks, pit wisely and putting your fund-rais- in the admissions brochure for a school exploring uncharted territory, diving ing acumen where your mouth is, the of foreign service in the Middle East. into the sea. But despite these chal- third example of presidential leader- Because journeying is an apt metaphor lenges, the deep rewards of a liberal ship in support of the liberal arts could for a liberal arts education, one that I education are surely worth it, for all the be the way you honor faculty members. and many of you often use, these three reasons I’ve mentioned and many oth- With the teaching awards and other fragments provide an especially appro- ers that you will each devise to make distinctions your college offers, make priate conclusion to this speech. your case vigorously as presidents sure to single out for praise and support The first lines were written in committed to this cause. Good luck those who have been most effective in Greek by Constantine Cavafy, a late- with your task, and happy journeys! ■

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