OP-ED Maintaining the core of a global liberal arts college

Author: Michael Geisler

Metaphors are tricky business. No doubt, the editorial board in the Oct. 23 Campus is correct in reminding us that the small liberal arts college is "the core" of the Middlebury experience. But a "core," whether we are talking about an apple or a peach, has a function only in relation to its outer layers which are there to protect it and enhance its importance. Without the outer layers, the very word "core" becomes a paradox.

Alone among its peers, Middlebury has an outstanding reputation as "the hottest school for international studies" (Newsweek poll of 2005). That reputation is based on the excellence of Middlebury's language programs (both summer and academic year!) and the C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, according to the same poll. With the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury also has the largest MA program in English in the United States, while the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is the oldest and by far the most prestigious writers' conference in the country. These are enormous assets that most colleges would love to have.

All of these programs have to pay for themselves and all of them contribute to the bottom line. But that's not the reason why we have them. Year after year, in addition to some 150 students from Middlebury (many of whom depend on the Language Schools to meet their major requirements and to go abroad), the Language Schools bring more than 1,200 students from institutions around the globe to Middlebury, plus some 200 faculty from 24 different countries. Bread Loaf contributes another 700 or so. Year after year these more than 2,000 "strangers" (as the editorial board seems to perceive them) carry the reputation of Middlebury all over the United States, to Canada and to their home countries around the globe. Many of our Schools Abroad would not have been established without the help of preexisting Language Schools contacts: the reputation of the Language Schools vouchsafed for the quality of Middlebury's students, before we ever opened our mouths in the negotiations with our partner institutions. When the more than 60 percent of Middlebury academic-year students who have studied abroad during their junior year later on look for jobs in the global economy, they are often helped by internships, friends, and other contacts they established during their time abroad, and often alumni of our Schools Abroad also lend a helping hand.

On the issue of administrative attention: all the summer programs and the Schools Abroad report to their own deans and directors who in turn report to the office of the Vice President for Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Graduate Programs. All of these positions are financed through the internal budgets of these units. The Vice President in turn reports to the President - one report compared to dozens that represent the central concerns of the academic year.

To be sure, the summer programs and programs abroad are not the core, and they are not intended to be. But there is no reasonable curricular or programmatic line that can be drawn between "the core" and "the periphery." Neither makes sense without the other.

In a global society, a liberal arts college without significant programmatic connections to the external world would not last another 200 years, or even another 25 years. We have these outer layers because, without them, the core would not survive for long. That is why Middlebury has become "The First Global Liberal Arts College."