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^kl 1)(/1 Tomorrow: Thunderstorms 86/70 details, C12 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011 pZlabg Turning up the volume
At Gallaudet, a longtime haven for deaf students, more undergrads are products of a hearing world without the need for sign language
BY DANIEL DE VISE teachers. Together, the changes are redefining a school that sits at the he quiet campus of Gallau- very epicenter of American deaf soci- det University in Northeast ety. Washington was always a A new generation of deaf and hard- place where students could of-hearing children can study where speak the unspoken lan- they please. Changes in federal law Tguage of deaf America and be under- have rerouted deaf students from stood. residential deaf schools to main- That is no longer so true. For the stream public campuses, which are first time in living memory, signifi- now obliged to serve them. Cochlear cant numbers of freshmen at the implants are gaining acceptance and nation’s premiere university for the changing the nature of deafness, al- deaf and hard of hearing arrive lack- though the deaf community remains ing proficiency in American Sign divided on their use. Language and experience with deaf The influx of “non-signers,” who culture. can hear and speak or who read lips or Rising numbers of Gallaudet stu- text, may be necessary for Gallaudet’s dents are products of a hearing world. survival. Yet it has sparked passionate The share of undergraduates who debate on whether the university is come from mainstream public becoming “hearing-ized” and wheth- schools rather than residential er deaf culture is slipping away. schools for the deaf has grown from “We want a signing environment, 33 percent to 44 percent in four years. because how often do deaf students The number of students with cochle- get that environment?” said Dylan ar implants, which stimulate the au- Hinks, 20, student body president. ditory nerve to create a sense of “This is the place where I want to have PHOTOS BY NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST sound, has doubled to 102 since 2005. comfort and ease in my communica- Easter Faafiti, a 22-year-old junior at Gallaudet, Gallaudet is also enrolling more tion.” first learned of the school when she took a sign hearing students in programs to train language course at a community college. sign-language interpreters and gallaudet continued on A16
During lunch at Gallaudet University in the District last week, students use sign language to communicate. KLMNO A16 From Page One EZ SU SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011
There was talk of a vanishing deaf culture at Gallaudet five years ago, when protesters shut down the campus over the ap- pointment of then-Provost Jane Fernandes as president. More than 100 demonstrators were ar- rested. Trustees eventually re- voked the appointment. The consensus on campus to- day is that the protest centered on the propriety of the presidential search. Protesters said outgoing President I. King Jordan hijacked the proceedings to elevate Fer- nandes, his protege. But Fernandes portrayed her- self as a casualty in a deaf-culture war. Born deaf, Fernandes grew up speaking English and learned to sign as an adult. She claimed that, to students advocating the primacy of sign language, she was “not deaf enough.” Fernandes now serves as pro- vost of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. In an e-mail interview, she said, “There re- RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST mains entrenched at Gallaudet a Sophomores Matthew Williams, left, and Kiara Young converse in sign language. strong deaf culture that perpetu- ates a very narrow way to live as a deaf person.” One year during her tenure as resembles that fractured campus. erage ACT reading scores for en- provost, Fernandes said, upper- President T. Alan Hurwitz, re- tering freshmen are at their high- class students hazed freshmen, cruited away from a rival deaf est point in recent history. Under- ordering them not to speak in any school within New York’s Roches- graduate enrollment has re- of their classes so that they were ter Institute of Technology, has bounded to 1,118. forced to sign. raised standards and largely unit- Hurwitz has calmed the culture “I had freshmen in tears, telling ed Gallaudet around a new vision wars with a schoolwide policy me that Gallaudet recruited them of bilingual deaf education. that affirms the primacy of sign RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST under false pretenses, because “People are beginning to realize language but also posits Gallau- Freshman Jeffery Willoughby, center, and sophomore Michael Schmitz during lunch at the school, which now considers itself bilingual. they were told Gallaudet wel- that American Sign Language is a det as a bilingual school. comed all deaf students,” she said. value added,” said Hurwitz, who Professors now must prove After Fernandes’s ouster, ac- has been deaf since birth and is a mastery of sign language to get creditors from the Middle States fluent signer. tenure. Students, too, are expected Commission on Higher Educa- Hurwitz was so wary of Gallau- to sign. In a campuswide e-mail tion put Gallaudet on probation. det’s history that he turned down last fall, Hurwitz wrote: “Everyone The censure dealt a stunning blow the search committee several on campus — no matter his or her to Gallaudet’s academic currency. times before consenting to an in- signing level — should make every Some feared that the school terview. On the day he was intro- effort to communicate in sign lan- would close. duced as president, Hurwitz said, guage when in public areas on Accreditors found academic “We didn’t know if everyone was campus.” standards virtually nonexistent. going to stand up and protest.” But upholding that standard is The university admitted students Twenty months into his admin- increasingly difficult on a campus who could not graduate and em- istration, there is little to protest. where nearly half of the freshmen ployed professors who could bare- Gallaudet’s graduation rate has now come from mainstream high ly sign. The institution was not risen from 25 percent to 41 per- schools and dozens arrive not keeping pace with the changing cent in four years. The share of knowing how to sign. To help deaf world. Undergraduate en- graduates who continue their ed- them, university leaders last year rollment had slipped from 1,274 in ucation has nearly doubled to 63 created a six-week crash course fall 2005 to 1,040 in 2007. percent. The school has raised for 46 new signers, an orientation The Gallaudet of today scarcely admission requirements, and av- to Gallaudet and to the deaf KLMNO A16 From Page One EZ SU SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011
g world. fortable with spoken English. An explosive opinion piece in “I would prefer to speak,” Tat- the school newspaper last fall de- um said. “But if I’m going to speak cried the rise of non-signers on to someone who can’t hear me, campus and the potential demise that makes no sense.” of “the one deaf space we can have Leila Hanaumi, a 21-year-old in this country.” senior, attended a deaf school and Some students agree. Others knew Gallaudet and its history favor a more patient approach to when she enrolled. She’s one of a new signers. few on campus who fully appreci- “They’ve been speaking for ate how much the school has im- years, and then they come here proved; at an institution where and they’re expected to sign,” said the population turns over every Tony Tatum, a 23-year-old senior. few years, memories are short. “It’s a hard habit for them to “In my class, we have the high- break.” est retention rate in I don’t know Tatum sat with four other stu- how long,” she said. Most of her dents in the campus dining hall class will graduate within five on a recent day. Three of them, years, “and that’s pretty much un- including Tatum, came from pub- heard of.” lic schools and learned to sign at The university’s future may de- an advanced age. pend on reaching further into the “Before I came to Gallaudet, I mainstream of American educa- thought I was the only person in tion. Gallaudet recruiters have tri- the world who was hard of hear- pled the number of annual visits ing,” Tatum said. Now, he plays on to public schools since 2006. Gallaudet’s celebrated football A trip might focus on one or team, a squad that invented the two students who know nothing huddle in the 1890s as a way to of Gallaudet. Charity Reedy- hide signs from the other side. Hines, the chief recruiter, recalled Easter Faafiti, a 22-year-old ju- a recent visit to a public high nior, didn’t know about Gallaudet school in Mississippi where re- until she took a sign language cruiters met with two deaf stu- course at a community college. dents. Her hearing parents “knew noth- “Both of them had never met ing about deaf culture, not one another person like themselves,” thing.” she said. “They hadn’t even met At the lunch table, Faafiti and each other.” Tatum communicated in sign, [email protected] even though both are more com-
NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST Students walk near the Merrill Learning Center at Gallaudet. The influx of “non-signers” — who can hear and speak or who read lips or text — has sparked a debate over the school’s deaf culture. ABCDE
^klmhkfl 11(0+ Tomorrow: Thunderstorms 82/67 details, C10 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 pZlabg KLMNO A8 Politics & The Nation EZ RE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 ABCDE
Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. MD DC VA
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.(0* Tomorrow: Thunderstorms 94/71 details, B8 TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2011 pZlabg` pp She was one of many AU appli- py strong students who might not Delaware deemed Shevach a otherwise attend, including those cants representing the top 5 per- tegic development consultant), Spiraling aid has caused finan- You’re in, cent of their high school class. someone would have to postpone cial trouble for some private col- top prospect. The school offered who could afford to pay full price. “We’re getting $20,000 in merit aid and a spot in Private institutions spent The College of Charleston was retirement to cover the cost. leges. For college applicants, on a more impulsive choice. Spolar- “And then, I don’t know, my the other hand, it has spawned a the honors program. At an event but are you $2,060 per student in 2010 on aid calls back from for admitted students, she met to families without financial ich visited the campus while driv- mom and dad were just like, ‘I buyer’s market. High-achieving ing to Florida with her mother, families saying, can’t pay for this,’ ” Gillian Spolar- students can reap steep discounts other honors recruits who had need. That category of aid has turned down Ivy League schools. going? Check increased by half in 10 years in drawn to the colonial charm of ich said. “And I was like, ‘I know, at colleges with strong reputa- Charleston and its 18th-century ‘We’re getting this is stupid.’ ” tions for undergraduate educa- Shevach said she chose the constant dollars, according to the Delaware school for the sake of public college, one of the nation’s tion. College Board. Public colleges, An admissions tool her parents. the merit aid. oldest. this much from “We’re getting calls back from too, trade in merit aid: They “They said that they would Spolarich soon learned that, Merit aid, uncommon 30 years families saying, ‘We’re getting spent $410 per student on aid another college. have paid for Penn State,” she with her 3.85 unweighted grade- ago, has grown into a dominant this much from another college. “beyond need” in 2010, a 37 per- said. “But I didn’t want them to Top students seeking point average and 30-plus ACT admissions tool at hundreds of Can you match it?’ ” said Joseph cent increase in 10 years. Can you match be $160,000 in debt. You need to scores, she was just the sort of private and public colleges seek- Urgo, president of St. Mary’s Col- best deals spur bidding In addition, experts say, a sig- think about the investment student the College of Charleston it?’ ...We’re ing top students. lege of Maryland,apublic liberal nificant amount of merit aid is you’re making: Are you going to wars among colleges aspired to attract. “They’re looking to improve arts college that competes with given to other students. But the get that $160,000 back?” total is difficult to quantify. Her numbers, unremarkable wasting billions the profile of the class to give private institutions. themselves bragging rights,” said St. Mary’s charges $25,000 a [email protected] BY DANIEL DE VISE Price has always been a con- in the AU applicant pool, stood cern in choosing a college. But out at Charleston. AU wanted her. of dollars Douglas Bennett, president of year in in-state tuition and living experts say there is a tradition Charleston seemed to want her Earlham College in Indiana. expenses, half the price of some Gillian Spolarich’s college nationally among many upper-middle-class more. Of course, colleges also have competitors. But some of them search played out like a romantic families — those with six-figure “They were straightforward at long steered scholarships to ath- are willing to bridge the gap by triangle. She was set on American competing for incomes and little hope for need- the beginning that if she applied, letes and others with special tal- offering tuition discounts of 60 or University. But the College of based aid — of finding the money and if her numbers were what she kids. But we ents. 70 percent. Charleston was set on her. The to attend the most selective had written on the [information] Most aid is still need-based. “We’re wasting billions of dol- Southern suitor sweetened its school that offers admission, card, they would be able to make can’t stop it.” But admission experts say colleg- lars nationally competing for admission offer with a pledge of whatever the price. her a very good offer,”said Audrey es increasingly use grant dollars kids,” Urgo said. “But we can’t more than $10,000 in merit aid. — Joseph Urgo, That is changing, admissions Spolarich, Gillian’s mother. as a tool to attract good students, stop it.” In the end, the high school St. Mary’s College of Maryland counselors say. Today, even privi- The wooing intensified when needy or not. The full extent of Some schools package merit senior from Silver Spring took the leged families are questioning the Spolarich returned to Charleston merit aid is hard to gauge because awards with admission to elite better offer from the second- wisdom of paying $50,000 a year in March for Accepted Students schools define it in different programs and other perks. This is choice school in South Carolina, for college, especially an institu- Weekend. In the honors college, ways, said Haley Chitty, spokes- “another level of merit aid, where placing price before prestige. tion that lacks the pedigree of a Gillian would enjoy smaller class- man for the National Association you’re not just getting the money, It is becoming a common post- Harvard or Yale. es, interdisciplinary study, pref- of Student Financial Aid Admin- you’re getting the special atten- recession scenario: Affluent ap- “Even if you have money, erential housing and first dibs on istrators. tion,” said Sally Rubenstone, a plicants, shocked by college stick- $200,000 is still a lot of money,” registration. She met the college A few dozen of the most selec- senior adviser at the Web site er prices and leery of debt, are said Lisa Sohmer, director of president. tive colleges offer financial assis- College Confidential. choosing a school not because it college counseling at the private “It was really crazy how friend- tance only on a need basis, an Samantha Shevach of Queens is the first choice but because it is college preparatory Garden ly everyone was,” she said. arrangement they deem more chose the University of Delaware the best deal. Students are using School in the New York City The college offered her enough equitable. But then, those schools over Penn State, her first choice, their academic credentials to lev- borough of Queens. “The thing to aid to lower the total annual bill can attract top students without because of merit aid. erage generous merit awards remember is, there are extraordi- from about $34,000 to about merit aid, said Amanda Griffith, Shevach was a strong appli- from second- or third-choice nary educations to be had at $21,000, effectively erasing the an economist at Wake Forest cant, with an A average at Mary schools looking to boost their colleges that cost all different financial penalty for Gillian as an University. Louis Academy, a Catholic college own academic profiles. Colleges kinds of money.” out-of-state student, Audrey Spo- Hundreds of other colleges fa- preparatory, and high SAT scores. are responding with record sums larich said. vor merit aid, offering packages She had always wanted to go to of merit aid, transforming the Working out the math AU had offered no aid. Tuition, that can cover most or all of the Penn State and applied to Dela- admissions process into a polite Spolarich, 18, seemed a natural fees and living expenses total cost of an education. Schools ware as an afterthought. bidding war. fit at American. Its Northwest about $50,000 a year, typical for a manage the expense by passing it Penn State offered admission The average student at a pri- Washington campus is close to first-rank private university. along to the students who pay full but not aid. “It was $43,000 a vate college last year reaped a her Montgomery County home. The Spolarich family did the price. year,” she said. “So expensive, 42 percent discount on the pub- Its strong communications pro- math. Even with two solid in- Merit aid is thus partly respon- even for a state school.” lished tuition, according to an gram beckoned to the senior, an comes (Gillian’s father is chief sible for the steep tuition increas- industry survey, a historical high. editor at the Blake High School financial officer for a federal es of the past 20 years. Admission experts say more col- Beat student newspaper. agency, and her mother is a stra- leges use merit awards to lure ABCDE
er lnggr 1-(/1 Tomorrow: Thunderstorms 89/68 details, C10 SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011 pZlabg`
After losing her memory in an accident in her home 23 years ago, a Md. woman marks a milestone in her second life: A college degree A DAY to remember
BY DANIEL DE VISE “It was Su 2.0,” said Jim Meck, her “It was literally like she had died,” husband, a systems engineer. “She had Jim said. “Her personality was gone.” community college com- rebooted.” Jim and Su had met five years earlier mencement is, for many, a Su Meck had been in her kitchen that at Ohio Wesleyan University. He was a celebration of second chanc- evening, making macaroni and cheese. junior. She was a freshman. They had es. She picked up Patrick, her 6-month-old left college upon his graduation, mar- Consider Su Meck. The son, and held him aloft. His body ried and settled in Fort Worth, where 45-year-oldA homemaker from Gaithers- brushed against a ceiling fan and Jim took a job at General Dynamics burg graduated Friday from Montgom- somehow unhooked it. It plummeted and they started a family. ery College with an associate degree in and struck Su’s head, according to Jim, A rebellious child from the Main music. It’s the culmination of a life that, the only one in the family with a Line suburbs of Philadelphia, Su had in most senses of the word, began at 22. memory of that day. removed the “e” from her name to set In February 1988, a ceiling fan fell on An MRI exam showed her brain herself apart from three other Sue Meck’s head. The blow erased her suffused with cracks, “like shaken Millers at school. She had fallen in with memory, and she awoke after a week in Jell-O,” her husband was told. The the wrong crowd and done time in a coma with the mental capacity of a injury left her with complete retro- juvenile hall. She kept a drum kit in her young child. She no longer knew her grade amnesia, the inability to remem- bedroom. husband or her two baby sons. She ber the past, a condition sometimes “I distinctly remember a lot of FAMILY PHOTO barely spoke and could not read or called Hollywood amnesia because it Jim and Su Meck in a photo before they were married — and before write, walk or eat, dress or drive. seldom happens outside the movies. meck continued on A15 the 1988 accident in their home that erased her memory. KLMNO SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011 EZ SU From Page One A15
p fighting, a lot of door-slamming husband, other relatives and an au pair. But returning to life as a “There was Something more and then a lot of really loud Nineteen years after the acci- drumming,” recalled Mark Mill- wife and young mother was “a sort of free fall,” she said. absolutely no dent, in 2007, Su walked into a er, her brother. classroom as if for the first time. When Su awoke from the There was a big hole at the center. Who was she? Why had recognition in Her children were heading off coma, the past was quite literally one outside her inner circle that she married this man, moved to to college themselves. Su gone, and she says that almost her face. Oh Su and her husband are plan- A graduate named Su she had no memory of the previ- this house, had these children? yearned to be known as some- nothing that happened in the ning a move to Massachusetts, For more photos of her big ous two decades. She didn’t want What thoughts lurked in the thing other than mother and first 22 years of her life has my gosh, it just where she will enroll at Smith 6 day, visit postlocal.com. to be pitied. mind of the woman who lifted wife. It was the familiar dilemma returned. The few flashes of College in the fall as a transfer The story finally poured out her baby boy from the kitchen tore me apart.” of the stay-at-home mom, except recollection have been brief and student seeking a bachelor’s de- one day last spring at the college, floor that fateful day? that this mom knew nothing mostly fleeting, such as the dis- gree. posters of Led Zeppelin, Pink when someone in the honor “I always wondered: What am — Barb Griffiths, Su Meck’s else. tinctive feel of a drum tuning Her specialty is still the Floyd and the Who. Atop the kit society asked other members to I supposed to do now? What is oldest sister, on her first visit to “I didn’t really know what I key, or the time she sat down at a drums. She plays on a kit her is a small, stuffed Animal, the each bring five things that meant the plan? What is the goal?” she the hospital after Meck’s was going to do,” she said. “And piano, a few months after the husband bought for her for crazy Muppet drummer, another something to them. said. “Am I supposed to be this accident Montgomery College was there.” accident, and played “The Enter- Christmas four years ago. It sits relic of a forgotten childhood. Su brought “Hop on Pop.” other person who I was, or am I She asked her children what to tainer” from what could only bring to class, how to take notes, in the family den, framed by Su went through two decades [email protected] have been a memory. She could supposed to be this new person?” To complicate matters, for children. Her other son, Patrick, how to ask questions and write never do it again. is 23. Kassidy, the only child Su papers. Friends and loved ones were weeks after the injury Su could not make new memories. She remembers from birth, is 18. Her first classes were in sociol- now strangers. Many found Su’s As a toddler, Benjamin devel- ogy, stress management and re- empty gaze unbearable. would awaken each day to a house full of strangers. oped a prodigious capacity to medial math — at 42, Su was still “I remember the first time I recall parking spaces. multiplying by repeated addi- walked into the hospital room,” It would be years before she could remember where she had Talking on the telephone was tion. said Barb Griffiths, Su’s eldest disorienting in the first few years Su was a slow learner — her sister. “I said ‘Hi, Su, how are parked the car at the mall. On the way home, she would circle the out of the hospital, so Su and her husband can read eight pages to you?’ She just looked at me, and family communicated with let- her one. She plodded through there was absolutely no recogni- neighborhood, clicking the ga- rage door opener for a hint of ters. Su wrote hers with the assignments, reading difficult tion in her face. Oh my gosh, it spelling and penmanship of a passages again and again so she just tore me apart.” which address was hers. She became known around the house young child. would remember them. as the “tidy fairy,” for her habit of “The boys play good with “I think she must have spent ‘A sort of free fall’ Legos now so givs me a chance to hours and hours and hours every Su left the hospital after two putting things away and then forgetting where she had put rite,” she told her mother in one day to try to do this,” said months. She had completed a mailing. In another: “I hav to go Michael Yassa, a brain expert at checklist of tasks, such as riding them. “We’d have the milk out and to mor doctors be case fall lots to Johns Hopkins University. a bicycle, preparing a meal and hitig head bad head ackes.” She persevered in the quest for reading a simple children’s book. we’d put it back in the fridge and close the fridge and . . . where did Her mother assembled a pho- her first college degree, earning a New Su’s first book was Dr. to album filled with images of 3.9 average and rising to chapter Seuss’s “Hop on Pop.” the milk go?” said Benjamin Meck, 24, the eldest of Su’s three the childhood she no longer president of the Phi Theta Kappa She had help — from her knew. “This is your life Su,” she honor society. wrote on the first page. Here, surely, lay a trace of the For years, her life as a wife and old Su, the same stubborn re- mother was all Su knew, all she solve that had driven her youth- had ever known. She learned her ful rebellion and, later, her obses- times tables from her children sive study habits as a teen at and volunteered at the school Ohio Wesleyan. library so she could hide in the “I think that part of her per- stacks and read. Benjamin grew sonality stayed with her,” said MATT MCCLAIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST up thinking “that school was for her sister Barb. “I think she Su Meck prays with her father, Bob Miller, and daughter, Kassidy, before a meal at the Mecks’ home in both of us.” needed to do this for herself.” Gaithersburg. The family was celebrating Meck’s graduation. She earned an associate degree in music. KLMNO SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011 EZ SU From Page One A15
MATT MCCLAIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Su Meck hugs her mother, Janet Miller, after her graduation from Montgomery College. At left is Meck’s daughter, Kassidy, 18 — the only one of Meck’s three children she remembers from birth. ABCDE Style C wednesday, may 18, 2011 EZ M2
Pennants for pop culture From MIT brainiac to Berkeley radical, the college evokes the character
BY DANIEL DE VISE bookish daughter Lisa. (“Come to Radcliffe and meet Harvard men,” they beckon. “Or Tina Fey studied drama at the University come to Wellesley and marry them.”) And of Virginia. But that genteel Southern col- the Oscar-winning film “The Social Net- legiate pedigree would hardly suit Liz Lem- work” essentially stars Harvard University on, her “30 Rock” alter ego. Instead, we are — although the campus we see on-screen is told that Lemon — Northern and cerebral, actually that of a stand-in, Johns Hopkins but also middle-class and hopelessly dorky University. — attended Bryn Mawr College and the A citation in fiction means an institu- University of Maryland, “on a partial com- tion’s brand is sufficiently familiar to help petitive jazz dance scholarship.” define a fictional character: Princeton Realcollegespopupalloverourfictional preppy. Penn State party boy. MIT brainiac. landscapes,theirnamesinvokedtobreathe Harvard kingmaker. Berkeley radical. life and depth into characters. The univer- Notre Dame jock. sities of Minnesota and Virginia serve as Writers create collegiate identities for backdrops in “Freedom,” Jonathan Fran- their characters for the same reason motor- zen’s celebrated novel. “The Simpsons” car- ists affix alma mater bumper stickers to JACOB THOMAS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST icatured the Seven Sisters in an episode touching on the collegiate aspirations of colleges continued on C3 KLMNO WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011 EZ M2 C3
their cars — college can be central on the author’s time at Bard and to our sense of social identity, as Sarah Lawrence; and Saul Bellow, essential as home town, career or whose “Herzog” references the income bracket. A writer might University of Chicago. just as easily peg a character as a Perhaps not surprisingly, the Ivy Camel smoker or a Prius driver. But League wins the collegiate-fiction colleges are more richly evocative popularity contest hands down. than cigarettes or cars. Harvard is the setting for 77 college Colleges “are talismanic in all novels, the most on Kramer’s list, kinds of ways, of course, signaling followed by Yale (32), Princeton the final arc of adolescence, of free- (21) and Cornell (12). Only two oth- dom, of languor and the first or last er schools claim more than a dozen sparks of intellectual promise,” literary treatments: Berkeley (19) said John Gregory Brown, an Eng- and the University of Chicago (18). lish professor at Sweet Briar Col- Among Washington area lege in Virginia. Colleges “show up schools, U-Va. is the best-repre- in novels and stories to suggest the sented on Kramer’s list, with three ghosts that might be lingering in a literary citations, not including the character’s life.” recent “Freedom,” which likens the Colleges seeking brand identity Grounds to a Young Republicans’ and national repute are just as convention. (The school’s scholar- happy to claim fictional alumni as athlete ethos may be better served real ones. Wikipedia pages for col- in the film “The Silence of the leges and universities routinely Lambs,” whose central character, track references on television and earnest yet gauche FBI agent Cla- in film, some seemingly haphazard rice Starling, is said to have gradu- and random, many more knowing ated at the top of her class. She tells and purposeful. Any fictional por- a captain, “It’s not exactly a charm trayal, good or bad, serves “as a school.”) George Washington and U-Md. have two; Georgetown, LEFT: NICOLE RIVELLI/NBC; RIGHT: STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS bellwether of sorts of how embed- LEFT: TOBY TALBOT/ASSOCIATED PRESS; RIGHT: ASSOCIATED PRESS ded you are in the popular con- Howard, Johns Hopkins, Washing- COLLEGE PREP: Dartmouth was supposedly the model for Faber College, where debauchery reigned STAR ALUM: U-Va. grad Tina Fey, above, didn’t share her alma mater with “30 Rock” alter ego Liz sciousness,” said Michael Schoen- ton and Lee, and William and Mary Lemon, but the university is still a character sell elsewhere, including Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom.” feld, Duke’s vice president for pub- each have one. in “Animal House,” arguably America’s most beloved college film, starring John Belushi, above. lic affairs. Local schools are better repre- Colleges may derive tangible sented in the broader pop-culture benefits from pop culture cameos universe. Television’s “The West ties.” scribes his first days on campus: as well, although such benefits are Wing” made repeated reference to Artists who want to dish dirt on And I was happy in those first days difficult to measure. The sheer Georgetown, an institution associ- a college sometimes change its as really I’d never been before, number of intelligent people in ated with Washington’s power name. The debauchery of “Animal roaming like a sleepwalker, “The Social Network” — not to elite. (And where HBO Mafia heir- House,” arguably America’s most stunned and drunk with beauty. mention the sybaritic partying — ess Meadow Soprano was igno- beloved college movie, is set at the All very well and good, except that surely contributed in some small miniously wait-listed.) The College imaginary Faber College, suppos- some Hampden students later way to Harvard’s record 35,000 of William and Mary, its campus edly modeled on Dartmouth. The push a classmate off a cliff. applications this year. “I do expect drenched in colonial history, has a Dupont University of “I Am Char- Yet even the most caustic por- positive press can drive up applica- recurring nonfiction role as the lotte Simmons,” based in part on trayal seems to burnish a school’s tions and improve yield on a short- answer to questions posed on Duke, is portrayed as a campus mystique. “I would argue that it’s term basis,” said Greg Roberts, “Jeopardy!” Both Ludacris and Big- “drunk on youth and beer.”(It fares always good for the school,” Slote dean of admissions at U-Va. gie Smalls have rapped about How- better in the Myron Bolitar detec- said. “It means that school counts Authors have been writing col- ard University, epicenter of African tive novels of Harlan Coben, which in the cultural semiology.” leges into works of fiction since at American scholarship and host to concern a Duke hoopster-turned- Indeed, colleges may even ap- least 1828, when a 23-year-old Na- famously over-the-top homecom- agent who solves crimes. President propriate dubious stereotypes — as thaniel Hawthorne drew upon ing parties. And Johns Hopkins is KEY TO PAGE 1 Richard Brodhead became pen in American University’s recent fresh memories of Bowdoin Col- equated with brilliant, off-kilter ILLUSTRATION pals with Coben after reading one.) “wonk” ad campaign or at William legein“Fanshawe,” generally re- doctors, most recently television’s 1) Georgetown University “There’s a long history of recog- and Mary, where many a student garded as America’s first college misanthropic Gregory House. 2) University of California, nizable schools being recognizable has transcribed “Oh, no, William novel. Recent years have seen the “One of the things about stereo- Berkeley even when in disguise,” said Ben and Mary won’t do” onto a dorm- genre explode. In his bibliography types is that there’s usually some 3) University of Maryland Slote, a professor of English at Al- room door. The line comes from for “The American College Novel,” basis in fact,” said Ted Fiske, cre- 4) Johns Hopkins University leghenyCollegewhoteachescours- “My Old School” by literary rockers author John E. Kramer tallies more ator of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, 5) Harvard University es on the college novel. He cites Steely Dan, a homage to their col- than 200 college novels published which emphasizes essays over lists. 6) George Washington Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History,” lege days at Bard. Pressed by the between 1980 and 2002 alone. “The problem with the stereotypes University one of several college novels that student newspaper for an explana- Notable contributors to the can- is if they’re too simple.”The Univer- 7) Bryn Mawr College have played off the “fairly wild” tion, a band associate explained on include F. Scott Fitzgerald, who sity of Florida, for example, “proba- 8) Duke University reputations of Vermont’s Benning- the impetus behind the much- bly has the best-deserved reputa- 9) Stanford University ton and Middlebury colleges. Its parsed line. set “This Side of Paradise” at Princ- LEFT: PATRICIA MCDONNELL/ASSOCIATED PRESS; RIGHT: COLUMBIA TRISTAR MARKETING GROUP/SONY PICTURES eton; Mary McCarthy, whose clas- tion as a party school,” he said. “On 10) Princeton University Hampden College is presumed to “William and Mary” had the 11) University of Minnesota be Bennington, the author’s alma right number of syllables. TOP OF THE CLASS: Harvard amassed a record 35,000 applications this year, no doubt helped in sic “The Groves of Academe”draws the other hand, that grossly over- part by its starring role in “The Social Network,” with Andrew Garfield, left, and Jesse Eisenberg. on the author’s time at Bard and simplifies one of the great universi- 12) University of Virginia mater. Tartt’s male narrator de- [email protected] ABCDE METRO B
saturday, may 14, 2011 EZ SU Learning for the sake of living well At St. John’s College in Annapolis, a passion for liberal arts withstands an adversarial economy
BY DANIEL DE VISE tical majors at lower price points. The sector is “always defending he economic downturn has itself, always on the edge,” said not been kind to liberal William Durden, president of T arts schools. Middle-in- Dickinson College in Pennsylva- come families with depleted nia and fellow defender of the portfolios are fleeing to public faith. colleges. To some, the very term The Great Recession of 2008 “liberal arts” now symbolizes im- exposed vulnerabilities at St. practical indulgence. Tuition is John’s. Applications fell from at an all-time high. So, too, are 460 in 2008 to 357 in 2010, tuition discounts. The vicious yielding an uncharacteristically cycle is driving colleges into debt. small freshman class. The aver- For Christopher Nelson, that age tuition discount off the fractured business model begets school’s $54,000 annual price tag a single question: What would rose from 29 percent to 40 per- Socrates say? cent, driven by its commitment Nelson is completing his 20th to meet spiraling need. year as president of St. John’s Nelson is nursing the school College in Annapolis, one of the back to health by breaking with nation’s oldest and most distinc- tradition. The famously anti- tive schools, where there are no commercial school now actively academic departments. At this recruits thousands of potential college devoted to great works of students, rather than waiting for Western civilization, Nelson has the intellectually curious to find become a national spokesman their way to Annapolis. Nelson for the liberal arts, a visible and even hired marketing consul- passionate defender of learning tants, who persuaded the school for learning’s sake. Christopher Nelson, president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, to emphasize its high graduate- In an era when many reces- talks with senior Martin Greenwald of Bethesda. school placement rates and play sion-scarred parents have come down the fact that St. John’s has to view college as a path to a no majors. PHOTOS BY MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST higher income bracket, Nelson “We don’t live Yes, he thinks big thoughts. dares to define it as the route to a in order to get But what makes Nelson a partic- A student walks up the steps of McDowell Hall at St. John’s College in Annapolis. All students follow the same liberal arts program. life well-lived. ularly effective president, col- “As important as the world of a job. But we leagues say, is his canny ability to work is to us, we don’t live in engage with the world, a skill order to get a job,” he told an work in order honed in his previous life as a audience in San Francisco this labor lawyer. He is perfectly at year. “But we work in order to to make it ease parsing what he calls “the make it possible for us to live a human project” with a roomful good life.” possible for us of politicians. Liberal arts colleges, once to live a good “I count him among the three dominant in higher education, or four most influential presi- now command less than one- life.” dents in the country,” said David tenth of the higher-education St. John’s has always focused on Warren, president of the market, which has gravitated to- academics first and other — Christopher Nelson, ward schools offering more prac- details — like money — later. St. John’s College president liberal arts continued on B4 KLMNO B4 EZ M2 SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2011
liberal arts from B1 class. arts colleges, based on incom- fore Nelson arrived. In the education vernacular of plete data. Williams, Amherst He was an unusual choice for D.C.-based National Association the time, young Christopher Nel- and Swarthmore top the list. president. Though active on the of Independent Colleges and Uni- son was “slow.” He tested poorly. St. John’s operates differently St. John’s governing board, Nel- versities. He learned to read later than his than other colleges. Its curricu- son had never worked in aca- In Nelson’s office one recent younger sister. Try as he might, he lum requires all students to read demia, an odd deficit for the morning, an industry leader on could not follow a lecture. the same essential texts, in rough- leader of a most cerebral college. speakerphone beseeched him to Books delivered him from ig- ly the order they were written, But colleagues say he com- lean on a prominent state law- norance: first the Hardy Boys, starting with Homer’s “Iliad” and bines administrative skill and in- maker to fund capital projects at then Edith Hamilton’s “Mytholo- “Odyssey.” There are no lectures, tellectual heft. Nelson ran meet- several private colleges. “I know gy,” then “The Iliad.” Soon, Chris- only seminars guided by faculty ings in much the same way the that you have a very good rela- topher was reciting Homer in the “tutors.” tutors ran seminars: listening, tionship” with the lawmaker, she family home, re-imagining the The Program, as it is called, thinking, deliberating. said. living-room rug as the river Sca- attracts a small group of passion- “He’ll sit at a table forever until Nelson made the call. The proj- mander. ate students. Nearly everyone we get it figured out,” said Barba- ects were funded. Great books were in his blood. gets in, making St. John’s less ra Goyette, vice president of fund- When not behind his desk, His father, Charles Nelson, had selective than its peers. But the raising and alumni relations. Nelson crisscrosses the nation, hitchhiked to Annapolis from students generally bring high test St. John’s was chewing through delivering speeches in a rolling, Chicago in 1941 to attend St. scores and a strenuous work eth- its tiny endowment when Nelson bass-baritone voice about the John’s, an intellectual pilgrim. He ic. St. John’s ranks among the top arrived. Nelson built it up from transformational power of liberal went for the unusual curriculum, 2 percent of colleges for produc- $27 million to $135 million. He learning. adopted in 1937 to give the college ing future PhDs. renovated neglected facilities. “The well-educated adult,” he a niche and stave off bankruptcy. Johnnies, as they are known, Longtime faculty have few told a Washington group this The elder Nelson spent the for- drop words such as “truth” and quibbles with Nelson’s leader- year, “has an integrity of charac- mative years of his career dissem- “virtue” in casual conversation. ship. Some wish he traveled a bit ter, a rootedness in essentials, inating those works to the mass- At a recent morning coffee in less. Others say he deliberates a and a self-understanding that es. Nelson’s office, a student told bit much. No one seems ready for makes it possible to live well and Christopher Nelson grew up in how he was wrestling with what him to retire. consistently in an unpredictable the New York suburbs, the eldest it means “to be just, rather than “Wemay,ifwe’revery,very world.” of four. He rose to student-body just to seem just.” lucky, get someone in the future Nelson was a founder of the president at White Plains High A faculty member jumped in: who’s as good as he is,” said Annapolis Group, a consortium School. As a St. John’s student, he “Well, there’s a very good book Harvey Flaumenhaft, a tutor of more than 100 liberal arts earned the nickname Hector, af- about that, called ‘The Repub- since 1968. “I don’t think we’ll schools whose presidents first ter the Trojan hero, for derring- lic.’ ” ever have anyone who’s better.” gathered at his residence in 1993. do on the athletic field. The steady diet of Chaucer, Applications to St. John’s re- He was among the first presi- A comparatively tiny college of Copernicus, Dante and Heide- bounded to 394 this year. Nelson dents to boycott the U.S. News & 500 students, with a sister cam- gger is no cakewalk; there is a expects a larger freshman class World Report college rankings, pus in Santa Fe, N.M., St. John’s high rate of burnout. Fewer than and hopes financial aid expendi- dismissing them as foolish and has one of the strongest brands in half of Johnnies graduated when tures will level off. withholding necessary data. Two academe. The Annapolis campus Nelson arrived. The rate now “Good news from admissions,” decades later, St. John’s stands traces its origins to 1696 and reaches 70 percent. Nelson said, opening a meeting of almost alone in its defiance. would probably rank among the St. John’s has always put aca- the school’s financial committee Nelson, 63, did not fit the mold top 50 liberal arts schools,if demics first. Practical matters, on a recent morning. “I mean, of future college president when Nelson would cooperate. This such as buildings, fundraising those numbers are holding up he enrolled at St. John’s in 1966 year, U.S. News lists the school as and money in general, were really nicely.” MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST with the lowest SAT scores in his No. 166 among national liberal something of an afterthought be- [email protected] St. John’s College President Christopher Nelson, left, talks with seniors Kaura Mackey, Martin Greenwald and Andrew Peak. ABCDE
etropolitan Washington.
hhg kZbg -0(,2 Tomorrow: Partly sunny 45/27 details, B6 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2011 pZlabg` Investment in public’s ivory towers is eroding p, g NobelFallujah, laureates Iraq, in — 2004 subsists during now the in years. So we have time to prepare.” ment services — much less than executive director of Arlington Students bearing brunt perpetualheight of the austerity. insurgency, Star when faculty he A VA prevention program be- the costs of staying in jails, hospi- Street People’s Assistance Net- takeregularly mandatory risked furloughs roadside. bomb-Class- gun in 2011 is awarding $160 mil- tals or emergency shelters, advo- work, or A-SPAN. as even academic giants esings grow as a convoyperceptibly driver. larger each lion in grants to nonprofit com- cates say. Recipients face regular Veterans are waiting for vouch- scramble for revenue year.“It Roofs was leak; easier e-mail over crashes. there,” munity agencies, with the goals of reviews to make sure they contin- ers in virtually all jurisdictions OneBarnes employee mused. mows He the wonders entire preventing low-income families ue to qualify based on income and across the country, according to campus.whether Wastebaskets he has post-traumatic are emp- from falling into homelessness or health-care needs; at some point Veterans Affairs officials. BY DANIEL DE VISE tiedstress once disorder, a week. but Some he is professors not inter- rapidly returning them to stable they may transition to regular Gary Bush, a homeless 54-year- lackested telephones. in going to Veterans Affairs housing. “We’ve learned we can’t low-income housing vouchers. old Navy veteran in Arlington berkeley, calif. — Across the forBehind testing. these Instead, indignities Barnes stays lie end homelessness by street res- “It literally saved me,” said whose hollow cheeks and sunken nation, a historic collapse in state deeperon the problems. streets of The Northern state share Vir- cues alone,”said VA Secretary Eric Mickiela Montoya, who served eyes tell of long nights on the funding for higher education ofginia, Berkeley’s moving operating between budget favored has lo- K. Shinseki. with the Army National Guard in streets, has asked for a voucher, threatens to diminish the stature slippedcations since where 1991 he from feels 47 safe percent and The most effective remedy, ad- Iraq and received a voucher last but he was discouraged by the of premier public universities and tograbbing 11 percent. occasional Tuition has meals doubled and vocates say, is the joint voucher year for an Orange County, Calif., response. “They tell me the wait- erode their mission as engines of inshowers six years, in shelters. and the “I university like to be is a program, HUD-VASH, which pro- apartment where she lives with ing list is 500 deep,” Bush said upward social mobility. admittingghost,” he moresaid. students from out vides permanent supportive hous- her 4-year-old daughter. while eating stew at St. George’s At the University of Virginia, of stateBarnes willing finds to it pay nearly a premium impossi- ing to needy homeless veterans. The vouchers are distributed to provided by A-SPAN. state support has dwindled in two forble a to Berkeley look for degree. a job while This home- year, Veterans pay 30 percent of their public housing authorities across “In some cases, [vouchers] are decades from 26 percent of the forless. the “You first can’t time, get the good university sleep on income to rent, and the voucher the country based on need. “The going to people that are easiest to operating budget to 7 percent. At collectedthe street,” more he money said. He from lacks stu- a covers any rent above that problem is there are always new house, and not to the person who’s the University of Michigan, it has dentsphone than or from even California. money to get a amount. Each voucher costs the people coming into the system, been on the street the longest and declined from 48 percent to 17 haircut.“The issue that’s being ad- government on average $6,500 a and there aren’t that many vouch- has the most issues,” said Jake percent. dressedThe povertyat Berkeley, rate fundamental- for veterans year, plus $4,148 in case manage- ers to give out,” said Kathy Sibert, McGuire, a spokesman for Com- Not even the nation’s finest ly,ages is the 18 to future 34 reached of the high-quality 12.5 percent munity Solutions, an advocacy public university is immune. The REED SAXON/ASSOCIATED PRESS publicin 2010, university more than in America,”said double that of group for the homeless. University of California at Berke- Outside a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents, Robert10 years Reich, earlier, the according former labor to a VA officials acknowledge the ley — birthplace of the free-speech protesters decry the system’s tuition increases. State funding for report last month from Congress’s concern and have reminded field movement, home to nine living Berkeley’s operating budget has declined significantly since 1991. Jointberkeley Economiccontinued Committee on A. 10 offices that the vouchers are The key to dealing with the Nobel laureates — subsists now in g meant primarily for chronically Iraq-Afghanistan generation will perpetual austerity. Star faculty dressed at Berkeley, fundamental- team” that helps homeless veter- homeless veterans with mental be keeping veterans off the street take mandatory furloughs. Class- ly, is the future of the high-quality ans in California. health or substance-abuse prob- in the first place. “People don’t es grow perceptibly larger each public university in America,”said Matt Barnes, a 28-year-old for- lems. But the vouchers are gener- become homeless immediately,” year. Roofs leak; e-mail crashes. Robert Reich, the former labor mer Marine corporal, is represen- ally given to any qualifying home- said Dennis Culhane, a University One employee mows the entire rising. tative of this new generation. On a less veteran on a first-come, first- of Pennsylvania professor and au- campus. Wastebaskets are emp- The agency’s goal is to get all rainy December night, Barnes served basis. thority in the field. “It takes a few tied once a week. Some professors chronically homeless veterans slipped quietly into St. George’s Those selected often must wait lack telephones. into permanent supportive hous- Episcopal Church in Arlington four months to a year for housing, Behind these indignities lie ing; prevent at-risk veterans from County, gratefully accepting a depending on the amount of pa- deeper problems. The state share becoming homeless; and get new bowl of meat stew offered by vol- perwork required by the jurisdic- of Berkeley’s operating budget has tion, said Becky Kanis, who directs cases off the streets as soon as unteers and taking a seat at a table Terrance Coleman, a homeless veteran, sings during services at slipped since 1991 from 47 percent possible. with other homeless veterans. a homeless project run by Com- to 11 percent. Tuition has doubled Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men in munity Solutions. Many Iraq and Afghanistan vet- Barnes, who wore a bushy black the District. David Treadwell, a Vietnam veteran, runs the mission. in six years, and the university is erans at risk of homelessness keep beard and a donated red sweat- In addition, it has been difficult admitting more students from out a low profile. “They’d rather be off shirt, has been homeless for two of state willing to pay a premium in the shadows,” said Freddy Cor- years since losing his job as a for a Berkeley degree. This year, dova, a former Army paratrooper waiter and being unable to afford for the first time, the university who deployed four times to Iraq his apartment in Fairfax County. collected more money from stu- and now works with a National Barnes served five years in the dents than from California. Veterans Foundation “street Marine Corps, including a tour in “The issue that’s being ad- KLMNO A10 From Page One EZ SU TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2011
togaugetheproblemandmeasure duce homelessness, an increase of progress. For years, the VA used 17.5 percent from 2011. what one researcher called “wacky And the demand for services counting” of homeless veterans. continues to rise. At the VA Medi- Addressing the National Coalition cal Center in Washington, the for Homeless Veterans in June, number of homeless veterans Shinseki asserted that the number seeking treatment annually has of homeless veterans had been grown from 900 to 2,000 during reduced in two years from 131,000 the past three years. The hallways to 76,500. VA officials now ac- bustle with veterans visiting doc- knowledge the numbers were not tors or attending substance-abuse comparable. programs and other classes. Culhane, who also is director of Ending veteran homelessness research for VA’s National Center seemed far-fetched to staffers at on Homelessness Among Veter- the center when the goal was an- ans, said the numbers are now nounced in 2009. “It felt over- much more accurate, with a 2011 whelming at the time,” said Maria count of homeless veterans on a Llorente, chief of mental health given night conducted by teams in services. But the housing vouchers 432 communities nationwide. and better coordination between VA and HUD officials hailed the Veterans Affairs and other agen- new figures this month, a 12 per- cieshavemadethegoalattainable, centdropintheone-nightcountof she added. “We are genuinely opti- homelessveterans,from76,329on mistic.” a single night in January 2010 to Eddie Baker, a 56-year-old 67,495 in January 2011. Army veteran, works at the VA But even if all homeless veter- hospital providing peer support ans could be counted, there are for homeless veterans, including doubts that all could be housed. “I more from Iraq and Afghanistan. don’t know if we’ll ever get all of “I can relate intimately,” said Bak- them,” said David Treadwell, a re- er, who has been homeless since tired Army officer who fought in 2004. “They understand that Vietnam and now directs Central we’ve been through this.” Union Mission, an organization Baker, who lives at a homeless that cares for the homeless in the shelter in Capitol Heights, has District. “You meet guys who are tried to get a housing voucher, so dedicated to being on the street.” far without luck. “Field experience shows every- [email protected] one can be housed,” said Culhane. “Not without relapse, but it can be on washingtonpost.com done.” To see photos of homeless The VA’s 2012 budget includes 6 veterans in D.C. and Virginia, $939 million to prevent and re- go to washingtonpost.com.
PHOTOS BY JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST Ernest Maas, 60, a Navy veteran who has been homeless since May, crosses an Arlington street en route to a bus stop after being given dinner at St. George’s Episcopal Church. ABCDE A professor journeys beyond the ivory tower to take his love Style of J.R.R. Tolkien to the people saturday, february 12, 2011 Down to Middle-earth
orey Olsen had a lot to say broader audience. about J.R.R. Tolkien. But it BY DANIEL DE VISE Traditional public scholars — Umberto seemed a pity to consign his IN CHESTERTOWN, MD. Eco, Noam Chomsky, Stephen Jay Gould — thoughts to a scholarly jour- spoke mainly through books, magazines nal, to be read by a few hun- publish-or-perish tradition of scholarship and op-ed pieces. Today’s populist profs tap dred fellow academics who on the tenure track. potent new platforms: blogs and podcasts, already knew more than “Instead of spending all my time doing tweets and Facebook fan pages. Podcast enough about the author of “The Lord of the scholarly publishing, which we’re told to do celebrities include Harvard government CRings.” — which most people will never read — I professor Michael Sandel, whose “Justice” So in spring 2007, the Washington Col- basically decided to put myself out to the course explores right and wrong. Yale phi- lege professor took his scholarship public, public,” Olsen said. losophy professor Shelly Kagan has a course with a podcast called “How to Read Tolkien It remains to be seen whether academia called simply “Death.” and Why” and a Web site called the Tolkien will reward Olsen or punish him for break- At 36, Olsen represents a new generation Professor. ing out of his scholarly track. When it comes of professors who grew up around comput- A million downloads later, Olsen is one of to building resumes and courting full pro- ers and knows its way around an iPhone. the most popular medievalists in America. fessorships, podcasts don’t typically count. The bookish son of a New Hampshire con- His unusual path to success — a smartly Olsen is a new breed of public intellectu- struction worker, Olsen read “The Hobbit” branded Web site and a legion of iTunes al, the latest in a long line of scholars who listeners — marks an alternative to the have leveraged mass media to reach a tolkien prof continued on C10
MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST THE TOLKIEN PROFESSOR: Washington College’s Corey Olsen uses new-media tools to share his scholarship about the “Lord of the Rings” author. Olsen talks about hobbits, elves and more on podcasts and takes questions via Skype conferences. KLMNO C10 EZ SU SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2011
PHOTOS BY MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST EARLY LOVE: Corey Olsen read J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” at age 8 and was a self-professed expert on “The Lord of the Rings” by seventh grade. KLMNO C10 EZ SU SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2011
at age 8 and was a self-professed expert on ranked as high as third among top univer- Washington College run $44,572 a year. “The Lord of the Rings” by seventh grade. sity course downloads. By recording his lectures and posting He took up a sort of permanent spiritu- “Within two months, I had 5,000 sub- them online, Olsen is effectively giving al residence within Tolkien’s imagined scribers,” he recalled in an interview in elements of that education away for free. Middle-earth. As an undergraduate at his office on campus. “And then the peo- His overseers don’t seem to mind. Williams College in Massachusetts, Olsen ple who were listening wanted to talk.” Olsen received tenure last year, unusual took “every medieval thing that they Olsen communes with his growing fan for a scholar who hasn’t published a book. offered” and later earned a doctorate in base in periodic Skype call-in sessions But Olsen was denied promotion from medieval literature at Columbia. and on his Facebook page, answering assistant to associate professor. Tenure The young medievalist proved an im- urgent queries about Tolkien taxonomy. means lifetime employment, but promo- mediate hit at Washington College,a He hosts discussion boards on his Web tion means higher pay and stature. small liberal arts school tucked behind site and, this winter, is running an online Olsen the professor finds himself in the Chester River in the colonial hamlet seminar on the posthumous collection much the same spot as Tolkien the au- of Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern “The Silmarillion” for 15 lucky followers. thor: beloved by the public, yet not entire- Shore. He won the school’s top teaching “He’s like a Tolkien evangelist,” said ly accepted by the intelligentsia. award in 2007. Some current seniors have John DiBartolo, a Long Island musician, “I get the fact that some people don’t taken five or six of his courses. graphic designer and amateur Tolkien believe that what I’m doing counts as “You go to class, and he has all these scholar. scholarship,” he said. new insights that you didn’t even think The questions never cease: Do elves Christopher Ames, provost of Wash- of,” said Elizabeth Hurlbut, 21, a junior farm? What do orcs eat? Could any living ington College, said he couldn’t discuss author write a worthy sequel? What does from Keller, Tex. Olsen’s personnel file. But the school, he Olsen published an article and a review Olsen think of the upcoming “Hobbit” UNDERAPPRECIATED: J.R.R. Tolkien is not generally counted among the great fiction writers of his century. Yet, Tolkien movie? Has he played “The Lord of the said, is “very supportive of people work- in the scholarly journal TolkienStudies in ing in new media.” scholars and classes have multiplied, and Middle-earth fanzines have evolved into academic journals. Olsen says that Tolkien is 2008 and 2009, but he sensed an opportu- Rings” computer game online? often dismissed among academics “because fantasy stories about elves and dragons obviously cannot be serious literature.” Naturally, Olsen knows all sorts of But within academia, there is also nity squandered. More than 100 million subtle resistance. Olsen’s podcasts, after copies of “The Lord of the Rings” have arcana about Tolkien and hobbits. He likes to note, for instance, that the One all, are not peer-reviewed or vetted by been sold. The Peter Jackson movies of fellow scholars. That means no one has the past decade earned roughly a billion Ring of power and its corruptive influ- ence were absent from the first edition of given a formal blessing to his scholarship. dollars each. At the University of Maryland, works of “Instead of spending all my time Tolkien is not as popular among aca- “The Hobbit” in 1937. “Gollum and Bilbo end up shaking hands and waving,” he that sort “wouldn’t cut any ice in terms of demics. Though Tolkien was a language your ability to be promoted,” said Flieger, doing scholarly publishing, which scholar at Oxford, he is not generally chuckled. The centerpiece of Olsen’s podcast who has written three books on Tolkien we’re told to do — which most people counted among the great fiction writers and co-edits the Tolkien Journal. of his century, nor is “The Lord of the work is a chapter-by-chapter analysis of “The Hobbit” that Olsen hopes to repack- “But that may change,” she said. “The will never read — I basically decided Rings” counted among its great books. whole profession is changing.” Yet, Tolkien scholars and Tolkien class- age as a book when it is complete. His [email protected] to put myself out to the public.” es have multiplied over the years, and delivery is swift, affable and erudite. Middle-earth fanzines have evolved into “English professors as a group tend to MAKE THE GRADE Test your “Lord of the — Corey Olsen academic journals. rule Tolkien out of the literary canon 6 Rings” knowledge with our quiz at “If something isn’t going away, that without blinking,” Olsen lamented in the washingtonpost.com/style. tells you something,” said Verlyn Flieger, introductory lecture, “largely because a Tolkien scholar at the University of fantasy stories about elves and dragons Maryland. obviously cannot be serious literature.” Olsen’s Web site generated little traffic “He is a fantastic lecturer. He’s engag- until summer 2009, when he uploaded ing. He draws you in. I would have loved his 28-minute introductory lecture to to have taken a class from him in college,” iTunes. He’s put up 78 more podcasts, said Dave Kale, 29, a follower of Olsen’s with such titles as “On Dragons and Orcs” podcasts who lives in Los Angeles. and “Tolkien and Food.” His lectures have Tuition, fees and living expenses at BEYOND ACADEMIA: “Lord of the Rings” movies and toys, such as a stuffed Gandalf, have sold well. L@= =
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2_20•solve hi.indd 12 2/7/11 11:42:56 AM Measure how much students learn at every college 7c[h[Z[YWZ[W]e"\[mYebb[][i^WZ) Zgrh[c^\mbo^f^Zglmhf^Zlnk^ahp fn\ama^bklmn]^gmle^Zkg^][^mp^^g ^gkheef^gmZg]`kZ]nZmbhg' :f^kb\Zgab`a^k^]n\Zmbhgk^lm^] hgbmleZnk^el%l^\nk^bgbmlk^inmZmbhg Zlma^[^lmbgma^phke]%Z\k^]^gmbZe [Zl^]eZk`^erhgma^Z\ab^o^f^gmh_Z _^pang]k^]gZmbhgZengbo^klbmb^lZg] l^e^\mbo^eb[^kZeZkmll\ahhel' Lehper[nmlnk^er%ma^Z\\hngmZ[bebmr fho^f^gm%Zehg`pbmakblbg`\hg\^kg maZmp^Ìk^ghehg`^kma^[^lm%aZo^ [k^Z\a^]ma^bohkrmhp^k' Ma^+))*ZkkboZeh_Z_^]^kZe fZg]Zm^_hklmn]^gmikhÕ\b^g\r bgD&*+^]n\Zmbhg%Gh 2_20•solve hi.indd 13 2/7/11 11:43:08 AM sL@== fho^f^gm^goblbhgZmbf^pa^gma^ Zll^llf^gmlZk^lhi^koZlbo^%Zg]lh in[eb\%maZmma^ZggnZe\hee^`^kZgdbg`l [rN'L'G^pl Phke]K^ihkm%?hk[^l Zg]ma^bkbedbg\en]^]ZmZhglmn]^gm e^Zkgbg`Èlhf^mabg`ma^rf^Zlnk^ ghphgerbg]bk^\mer%makhn`aln\a f^mkb\lZl`kZ]nZmbhgkZm^Zg]lmn]^gm& _Z\nemrkZmbh' ÉP^Ìk^_hk\^]mh]hma^kZgdbg`l nlbg`l^\hg]&kZm^%mabk]&kZm^ f^Zlnk^l%ÊlZb]O^]]^k%pahho^kl^^l ma^?hk[^lkZgdbg`l%É[^\Znl^ma^k^Zk^ ghÕklm&kZm^f^Zlnk^l'Ê Lmn]^gme^Zkgbg`]ZmZfb`am [^\hf^ZiZkmh_^o^kr\hee^`^ `nb]^[hhdZg]Õg]&Z&\hee^`^P^[lbm^' FZgr\hee^`^e^Z]^klk^fZbg lmZng\aerhiihl^]mhlmZg]Zk]bs^] m^lmbg`%Zk`nbg`maZm\hee^`^lZk^fhk^ bgm^ee^\mnZeer]bo^kl^maZgab`al\ahhel% Zg]maZmghlmZg]Zk]bs^]m^lm\Zg f^Zlnk^ma^bkikh]n\m' ÉBmabgdlmZg]Zk]bs^]m^lmlZmma^ \hee^`bZm^e^o^eZk^Zgmb&bgm^ee^\mnZe%Ê lZb]IZmkb\bZF\@nbk^%ik^lb]^gmh_ MkbgbmrPZlabg`mhgNgbo^klbmr' Lhf^\kbmb\lZelh\hfieZbgmaZmma^ m^lmlÌ_h\nlhgkZmbg`ma^l\ahhekZma^k maZgma^bg]bob]nZe`bo^llmn]^gmlebmme^ bg\^gmbo^mhl\hk^p^ee' Ma^k^blZelh\hg\^kgZ[hnm in[eblabg`l\hk^l%Zlm^imaZmfb`am e^Z]lhf^\hee^`^lmhZ[Zg]hgm^lmbg` hk%phkl^%mnkgZpZr]blZ]oZgmZ`^] lmn]^gmlmhkZbl^ma^bkgnf[^kl' ÉP^]hgÌmdghppa^ma^khnk iZkmb\biZm^]bgma^ ), J>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D;r<;8HK7HO(&"(&'' 2_20•solve hi.indd 14 2/7/11 11:43:20 AM Zgbg]^i^g]^gmiheb\rZgZerlm' ;nmf^kbm]heeZklZk^li^gm%[rZg] Mabkmrr^ZklZ`h%f^kbmZb]pZlma^ eZk`^%hglmn]^gmlpahphne]`hmh kZk^l\aheZklabimhma^^qmkZhk]bgZkr \hee^`^%ZgrpZr':fb]]e^&\eZlllmn]^gm lmn]^gm%ma^o^lmb`^h_Zg^kZpa^g ]^gb^]f^kbmZb][rZ .)%)))&Z&r^Zk lfZkmi^hie^fb`amghm`hmh\hee^`^ \hee^`^fb`amghm[^Z[e^mhZ__hk]maZm pbmahnmZ\Zlabg\^gmbo^' \hee^`^%[nma^hkla^\ZglmbeeZ__hk] Mh]Zr%fZgrnii^k&bg\hf^_Zfbeb^l \hee^`^' ^gm^kma^\hee^`^l^Zk\apbmaZg F^kbmZb]_Zohklma^p^Zemar3 ^qi^\mZmbhgh_f^kbmZb]'Ma^rlahi <;8HK7HO(&"(&''rJ>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D;)- 2_20•solve hi.indd 15 2/7/11 11:43:30 AM Standardize+ the three- year bachelor’s degree >[dho:kdij[h">WhlWhZÉiòhij ik^lb]^gm%Zem^k^]ma^\hnkl^h_ \hee^`bZm^ablmhkrbg*/.+pa^gabl AZkoZk] ). J>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D;r<;8HK7HO(&"(&'' 2_20•solve hi.indd 16 2/8/11 1:32:01 PM Revive, the core curriculum =[d[hWj_edie\7c[h_YWdim[djje \hee^`^mhe^ZkgZ\hffhg\hk^h_ anfZgdghpe^]`^3IeZmhÌlÉK^in[eb\'Ê =ZkpbgÌlÉHkb`bgh_Li^\b^l'ÊÉMa^ BebZ]ÊZg]ÉMa^H]rll^r'ÊMa^kbl^Zg] _Zeeh_@k^^\^Zg]Khf^'>ghn`aEZmbg mhk^Z]ma^l\ahhefhmmhZg]^ghn`a LaZd^li^Zk^mh]khijnhm^lZm\h\dmZbe iZkmb^l' Ma^\hk^\nkkb\nenfZee[nmi^kbla^] bgma^*2/)l%ng]^kZllZnem[rl^o^kZe \hgo^k`bg`mk^g]l3Zkblbg`\hglnf^k f^gmZebmrZfhg`lmn]^gml%ma^^ohenmbhg h_\hee^`^ikh_^llhkl_khf^]n\Zmhkl bgmhk^l^Zk\a^klinklnbg`^o^k& gZkkhp^kli^\bZemb^l%ma^^qiZg]bg` `eh[Zedghpe^]`^[Zl^Zg]Z\aZg`bg` Z\Z]^fb\\nemnk^maZmehhd^][^rhg]ma^ m^Z\abg`lh_]^Z]pabm^f^g' Mh]Zr%hgerZaZg]_neh_ikhfbg^gm bglmbmnmbhglÈbg\en]bg`;hlmhgZg] 2_20•solve hi.indd 17 2/7/11 11:43:55 AM bgm^ee^\mnZea^kbmZ`^bgab`al\ahhe' Ma^ik^oZbebg`fh]^eh_É`^g^kZe ^]n\ZmbhgÊk^jnbk^llmn]^gmlmhmZd^ hg^hkmph\hnkl^l^Z\abgl^o^kZe [khZ]Z\Z]^fb\Õ^e]l%ln\aZl\nemnkZe lmn]b^l%jnZgmbmZmbo^k^Zlhgbg`Zg] gZmnkZel\b^g\^' )0 J>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D;r<;8HK7HO(&"(&'' 2_20•solve hi.indd 18 2/7/11 11:44:07 AM lmZ\dh_k^_^k^g\^[hhdl';nmfhlmh_ ma^]^\k^Zl^bglmn]rmbf^h\\nkk^] bgma^*2/)lZg]*20)l%[^_hk^ma^ i^klhgZe\hfinm^kZ`^' Ma^k^blZghma^kma^hkr'Ho^kma^ ]^\Z]^l%ma^jnZebmrh_\eZllkhhf m^Z\abg`aZl\hngm^]^o^ke^llmhpZk] Zikh_^llhkÌl\Zk^^kmkZc^\mhkr%pabe^ma^ jnZgmbmrZg]jnZebmrh_k^l^Zk\ahnminm aZo^\hngm^]^o^kfhk^' K^l^Zk\aÉfZr[^]kZpbg`_Z\nemr ZpZr_khfZllb`gbg`phkd%ÊlZb] :e^qZg]^kF\ 2_20•solve hi.indd 19 2/7/11 11:44:29 AM sL@== *( J>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D; 2_20•solve hi.indd 20 2/7/11 11:44:42 AM Health ß Sustainability ß Policy ß Technology LIVING THE / PROMISE Cap athletic subsidies ?dj[hYebb[]_Wj[Wj^b[j_Yi ng]hn[m^]erZ]]mhma^\hee^`bZm^ ^qi^kb^g\^';nmahpfn\a%Zg]_hk pahf8 Gbg^in[eb\ngbo^klbmb^lbgObk`bgbZ \aZk`^]lmn]^gmlfhk^maZg *%))) Zib^\^bgZmae^mb\_^^lmabll\ahher^Zkmh \ho^kma^\hlmlh_ma^bkikh`kZfl'Ma^ Zo^kZ`^_^^aZlg^Zker]hn[e^]bg*) r^Zkl' INNOVATIVE THINKING :mae^mb\\hlmlZk^lhZkbg`Zl ngbo^klbmb^lkZ\^mh[nbe][b``^k BREAKTHROUGH RESEARCH ikh`kZflpbmaab`a^kikhÕe^l': REAL-WORLD SOLUTIONS gZmbhgZeerm^e^obl^]_hhm[Zeem^ZfblZ fb`amrmhhe_hk^qmkZ\mbg`fhg^r_khf ZenfgbZg]Ziieb\Zmbhgl_khfp^Zemar Getting the bugs out: UCR’s world-renowned hnm&h_&lmZm^lmn]^gml' entomologists help protect our forests, 2_20•solve hi.indd 21 2/7/11 11:44:57 AM sL@== PZlabg`mhgmabgdmZgd%_hng]*,maZm ** J>;M7I>?D=JEDFEIJC7=7P?D;r<;8HK7HO(&"(&'' 2_20•solve hi.indd 22 2/8/11 9:26:42 AM