President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and University alumnus Daniel Weiss delivered a public lecture about the importance of a liberal arts education titled “Higher Education in a Time of Change: Reflections on Missions, Markets, and Values,” on Tuesday, Nov. 1 in Mudd Hall.
The Academy at Johns Hopkins, which allows retired Hopkins professors to continue their research and scholarship, hosted the lecture.
Weiss earned his MA and PhD in History of Art from the University and joined the faculty in 1993, serving as professor and chair of the History of Art department. Weiss also served as the Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences from 2002 to 2005.
“I spent most of my career after I left Hopkins as a president of various colleges, so I think about these issues of higher education a lot and I care about them,” Weiss said. “Of all the places I’ve been, Hopkins is my home, and it’s always a great pleasure coming back here.”
His lecture focused on the problems that liberal arts colleges and universities face in terms of economics, value and community. Weiss also elaborated on the qualities that liberal arts colleges must maintain in order to continue being successful.
Weiss responded to the fact that many people nowadays view the liberal arts as inadequate ways to prepare oneself for the post-college work force.
“Many prospective students, their parents, the popular media and government officials, among others, see the liberal arts as intellectual ‘navel gazing,’ and they simply don’t understand what such education has to do with the present demands of the day,” Weiss said. “Yet at the same time, student interest in the liberal arts shows no sign of abating, while countless institutions around the world are actively assimilating western liberal arts traditions into the local curriculum. Clearly there is a healthy demand for a liberal arts education.”
The beginning of liberal arts colleges dates back to the colonial roots of America. The founding fathers believed that a democratic society needed educated citizens with critical thinking and leadership skills.
Weiss believes that another challenge arises when trying to educate the “whole person,” which he states is the fundamental purpose of a liberal arts education.
“A liberally educated individual is not just a well-developed intellect, but rather a whole person, who has productively engaged in issues of character, morality, community, identity and perhaps spiritually,” Weiss said. “Such development fruitfully encourages them in the classroom, but perhaps even more so in co-curricular and extracurricular venues that too come with a price. These include student affairs and support services, residential programs, campus organizations and so on.”
Weiss then focused on the market value of a liberal arts education, considering both its real and perceived benefits for a student in society.
He described a liberal arts education in terms of six core elements that which are important for the “well-rounded student” — foundational skills, curriculum, critical literacies, ethical reasoning and social responsibility, adapting to an ever-changing environment and collaboration.
“The assumption at most liberal arts institutions is that study in any particular field is of no more importance, [or of] arguably less importance, than students being exposed and being expected to engage with a range of topics that define what it means to be human,” Weiss said.
Weiss spoke about how the environment of liberal arts colleges encourages productive dialogue and fosters diverse and inclusive learning communities. However, he believes that this free speech is being restricted on college campuses.
“We are all aware of student demands for safe spaces and stronger institutions stances against hate speech,” he said. “Such demands are problematic for colleges and universities because they could be causing a tension with the free and open exchange of ideas. It has led to controversy around provocative language, trigger warnings, speech codes and accusations of thought police.”
Students who attended Weiss’s lecture also found the event very thought-provoking. Junior Tommy Koh urged more students to attend events which would broaden their understanding about the value of the liberal arts.
“I found it interesting that there were as few students in the audience as there were,” Koh said. “I think it would be beneficial for students to be more engaged in considering and thinking about issues related to the institutions of education of which they are part.”
Freshman Cecilia Vorfeld, a liberal arts student, said Weiss shed light on the complexities of being a humanities student in ways she had not thought about.
“As a former Dean of JHU, [Weiss] was able to relate the issues of higher education directly to us,” Vorfeld wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “He gave me a new perspective of the pros and cons my degree faces... JHU teaches the liberal arts and must continue to do so — thus the university must stay focused on how to continue this mission and how to do it best.”
