For nearly 50 years, I have taught freshman writing in the U. S. and overseas. My model for teaching and academic life came from a small liberal arts college — Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. For 38 years, however, the environment in which I have taught has been MSU — a large university where, too often, research and athletics reign.
The model of academic life at Grinnell in 1958-62 was challenging yet welcoming and invigorating. Teachers mattered. Because of Joseph Wall, I majored in history, thought historically and learned how to ask questions and use controlled dialogue in conducting classes. Beth Noble, Helena Percas and Andrew Debicki not only taught me Spanish but also introduced me to the captivating world of literature and culture in Spain and Latin America. Winston King, Neal Klausner and George Allan encouraged me to think more rationally and broadly about religion and philosophy. And Richard Young, track and cross-country coach, provided lessons in living as well as in the ambiguity of sports.
Courses, books and ideas mattered. Early on, I learned to look up words in the dictionary. We took serious books seriously. I memorized a quotation by S. E. Morison that “the tree of knowledge is barren unless rooted in love, and that learning purchased at the expense of living is a sorry bargain.” I never forgot Nick Carraway’s judgment of Tom and Daisy Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby”: “They were careless people … they smashed up things and creatures and then … let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Speeches and writing mattered. “If we survive the twentieth century, if the forces unleashed by the formula of Albert Einstein do not destroy us,” Professor Wall predicted in May 1960, “the nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi will save us.” Three weeks before I graduated, I gave a speech evaluating my liberal arts education. I scolded Grinnell for being an intellectual factory, trying too hard to produce students for graduate school and neglecting the fundamental questions and relationships in life. The second half of the speech, however, seemed to contradict the first half, for I asked the question: “How should I live?” “Live intensely a life of love, with integrity and gratitude,” I answered.
Extracurricular activities followed from academics. A sound body was necessary for a sound mind, so I played basketball, wrestled and ran cross country. Fellow students interested in religion sponsored panel discussions on Ingmar Bergman’s film, “The Seventh Seal,” listened to professors’ talks on approaches to reality and fasted to feed others. During the summer of 1961, my twin brother and I attended the University of Iowa, together for the last time in our lives. Then and now, the books I read— “Walden,” “Moby-Dick,” “The Scarlet Letter,” “Leaves of Grass” — were more important than the golf I played with Don.
On Saturday, Oct. 22, thousands and thousands of Spartan fans celebrated a thrilling Homecoming win over Wisconsin. On Sunday, Oct. 23, my wife and I watched the most impressive drama production we have ever seen by MSU students. The play, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was intellectually challenging, the acting superb, the set original and imaginative. The Pasant Theatre, however, was less than half filled. Once again, athletics trumped academics.
We can do very little to dethrone King Football at MSU. Here, however, are some suggestions for The State News to elevate academic life.
Review artistic performances as thoroughly as athletic contests.
Cover the academic and other human dimensions of sports heroes.
Establish a weekly book review. Ask professors to write about their favorite books. Encourage what President Hunter Rawlings III used to do at the University of Iowa: speak publicly every year about the five new books he would urge his listeners to read.
Report on the most popular, quirky and challenging courses and majors at MSU. Read one of Mark Grebner’s old “Grading the Profs,” and send reporters to cover the best teachers, lecturers and leaders of class discussion on campus. Report on the best of research coming out of MSU — by students as well as faculty.
Interview staff members about their work, which makes a university run.
Cover the commencement speeches at each college every spring. Report on the MSU President’s State of the University address and other major speeches by visiting diplomats, celebrities, and lecturers.
Do feature articles such as those of Matt Miller in The Lansing State Journal (e. g., on grade inflation).
Ask entering students what they want to get out of their education, and graduates what learning, insight and wisdom they are taking away from their education here. Ask several teachers what advice they would give graduates.
Above all, reinforce the purpose of land-grant colleges and universities, mandated by the Morrill Act of 1862: “to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”
Ron Dorr is a State News guest columnist and professor of rhetoric and humanities, James Madison College. Reach him at dorr@msu.edu.
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