Published: November 2010
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The University’s Institute for the Liberal Arts sponsored an all-day symposium on November 13 titled “Old and New Territories: Remapping the Liberal Arts for the 21st century.” Five speakers—John O’Malley, SJ, professor of theology at Georgetown; Catharine Stimpson, professor of English at New York University; Louis Menand, professor of English and American literature at Harvard; Alan Ryan, visiting scholar at Princeton; and Stanley Fish, professor of law at Florida International University—considered the liberal arts’ historical role, current relevance, and future direction. Dean of Arts and Sciences David Quigley began the day by noting that Boston College believes in the “transcendent ability of the liberal arts.” Pointing to the creation of the Institute for the Liberal Arts in 2007 and the construction of Stokes Hall on the Middle Campus (which will house many of the University’s humanities departments starting in 2012), he said, “at Boston College, the fate of the liberal arts is not in doubt.” Menand, while recognizing that the liberal curriculum is in decline in the United States, noted that it is ideally suited to the interdisciplinary studies gaining prominence at universities. A liberal arts education, he said, “remains the elite model of college training.”
Above, panelists at the morning session in the Heights Room were, from left, O’Malley, Stimpson, and Menand.