As you may know, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the identity of Fort Lewis College. Should it be deemed a liberal arts college or a college that provides a “liberal education” to its students?

 

Steve Meyers, senior lecturer and professor in the English department at FLC gave his opinion on what it means to be a public liberal arts college and why the liberal arts education is important in his lecture in the Animas classroom at FLC.

 

In Meyers’ lecture, “Why am I Here and Just What the Heck is a Public Liberal Arts College Anyway,” he discussed what he believed to be the importance of accessibility to a liberal arts education for students.

 

Fort Lewis College is struggling with its identity, Meyers said.

 

“I believe that if you go to a liberal arts college where the faculty is committed to that notion and your institution is committed to that notion and the institution is committed to the idea that knowledge is not compartmentalized that knowledge is not to give you a skill to prepare you for a job. But scholarship is something that can prepare you for a job but the greater joy is the sheer joy of scholarship,” he said.

 

Meyers made many disclaimers in his lecture, however, stating that the liberal arts education isn’t for everyone. Which I agree with. There are people who know what they would like to do in their collegiate careers and have their schooling planned at an institution that focuses on their preferred field of study.

 

This isn’t to say that those who prefer the liberal arts education do not know what they want, although it may be the case. It just means that these students do not desire to have additional courses that stray from their major.

 

I remember when I first decided to come to FLC I was declared as a chemistry major. Now, in my senior year, I am planning to graduate this Spring with a degree in Mass Communications.

 

This change was a direct result of coming to a public liberal arts college.

 

My freshman year, I took a class in mass communications with Dr. Leslie Blood. Her passion and enthusiasm about the material she was teaching opened my eyes to see that I also enjoyed media studies way more than I enjoyed anything relating to chemistry.

 

This was one of the many points Meyers made in his lecture, and having gone through it myself, I knew just how impactful the liberal arts core at FLC was on my major and career choice.

 

Meyers also made a point to discuss how a liberal arts education can better prepare students for the constantly changing job field.

 

Job skills change rapidly in the modern world, Meyers said. If you specialize in one single skill, and that skill is no longer needed or changes so dramatically that what you learned while attending the specialized school, your skills that you’ve learned are no longer easily applicable.

 

As a Mass Communications major, with a focus on journalism, each of my professors that have experience in the field have emphasized that the field is constantly changing and are trying to prepare us for this as much as possible.

 

“The hope is that learning and knowledge will give you a deeper kind of joy than going to a particular program so that you can get a job doing a particular thing,” Meyers said.

 

Liberal arts institutions all are dedicated to the proposition that knowledge and the joy of scholarship is a kind of joy that is worthy of pursuing that kind of education, Meyers said. And this kind of education does prepare you to function as a job, but it's not the primary focus.

 

My son specialized as a medievalist as an undergraduate, Meyers said. But later he discovered that he wanted to be an architect, so he applied to University of Oregon’s architecture program, and since his liberal arts degree was well respected, he got in.

 

If the institution is committed to the liberal arts it is the easiest thing to market, Meyers said. The problem is that the college is struggling with their identity, and are not making the fact that they are a liberal arts college their focus.

 

In a recent editorial on The Indy Online FLC student Evan Wick mentioned that FLC is experiencing an enrollment decrease.
 

During Meyers’ lecture, Wick asked, since last spring we’ve been down 8% in enrollment and so if we deemed that the liberal arts education is so important, how do we market that towards prospective students?

 

“If the college administration is committed to the notion of liberal arts, it is the easiest thing in the world to market,” Meyers said. “The problem is that the college is currently struggling with its identity and they're not as committed to that notion as they need to be to market it. And that's why enrollment is dropping.

 

When I came to FLC, I came here knowing that I would be introduced to a wide variety of subjects and be able to take classes in multiple fields of study. That is one of the main reasons that I chose this school. I came here to learn for knowledge’s sake as Steve put it.

 

Now that FLC seems reluctant to call itself a liberal arts college, students and faculty that want the liberal arts focus to stay are speaking out about it.

 

“Our faculty is committed to the notion of liberal arts and we are still a liberal arts college,” Meyers said.