Letter from the Dean
Mission statements, that lofty language that colleges and universities use to announce their highest goals and ambitions can be important. They can remind us of our basic commitments as well as introduce new members of the academic community to the values we share.
The mission of the RCAH is certainly ambitious. It calls upon us "to weave together the passion, imagination, humor, and candor of the arts and humanities to promote individual wellbeing and the common good."
Let me begin with "passion." Originally, passion referred to the story of the suffering of martyrs and saints, but gradually it came to mean any disorders, pains, and afflictions of the body. Today, we are more likely to associate passion with a wide range of feelings or mental states such anger, temper, excitement, and probably most of all, intense desire and love. The most talked about passion these days, at least in the U.S. mass media, is fear: fear of immigrants, fear of illness and disease, and especially fear of terrorism.
This pre-occupation with the passion of fear is hardly new. Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century British philosopher argued that fear of violent death was the most important human passion. Since it is hardwired into human nature, we should build our social, economic, and political institutions around it. Use it, don't fight it, Hobbes might have said.
It is useful to note, however, that Hobbes tended to exaggerate his own timidity. He liked to joke that his mother was frightened into giving birth to him in 1588 when the Spanish Armada set sail. Fear, he said, was his twin. Nevertheless, Hobbes was not afraid of taking on some of the most powerful figures of his time, bishops as well as kings; it is one reason why he was forced to live in exile in France for part of his life.
We can learn a lot from Hobbes's single-minded description of the fearful "state of nature" where life is "nasty, brutish, and short." Fear still has to be reckoned with. But, we know that even under the grimmest of conditions, we are capable of acting on other passions besides feelings of suffering, pain, and affliction. We are also, even when we are fearful, capable of imagining what the world looks like from the perspective of others, describing it honestly, and recognizing that sometimes we are taking ourselves a bit too seriously. Hobbes tried his best to reduce all of our passions to variations on a single theme. The arts and humanities are the best evidence we have that fear no matter how powerful an engine, does not blot out our other passions or de-activate our imagination, sense of humor, and candor.
The evidence is all around us. On a campus like MSU we see it in the buildings, old and new, the gardens, and works of art on display. We hear it in the wonderful musical performances that cover the campus year round. As we open a new chapter in this story, it is important to take special note of the work that has been and continues to be done in the arts and humanities at MSU. The RCAH would not be possible without it.
Our most immediate predecessor is the Residential Option in Arts and Letters. For the past ten years, this two-year program in the College of Arts & Letters has been home to a dynamic group of students whose enthusiasm for drama, poetry, and community engagement has been a model for us as we have planned our co-curricular activities. It is a pleasure to welcome these students and the faculty who have guided ROIAL into the RCAH. ROIAL's former home and now our sister college, Arts & Letters, has been extraordinarily generous in supporting us through this transitionary period. Without its active assistance and the assistance of the College of Social Science and the College of Music, in recruiting new faculty, designing our curriculum, and exploring new interdisciplinary territory, we would still be laying the groundwork for the new college.
Another important part of this larger picture is the support that the RCAH has received from James Madison College and Lyman Briggs College. Many of you know the history of the residential colleges at Michigan State University, beginning in the late 1960s. I won't rehearse it here. But I will say two things. Without the extraordinary successes of James Madison and Lyman Briggs, and the help they too have provided us over the past three years, we would not be in the position we are in today. Second, there is the valuable legacy of Justin Morrill College. Created alongside Madison and Briggs, Justin Morrill was not able to ride out the economic vicissitudes of the late 70s and early 80s. We have learned enormously from communications with Justin Morrill alum's who have explained to us what made their academic experience so valuable. The RCAH is honored to re-kindle the commitment of Justin Morrill faculty and students to the arts and humanities at MSU.
Against this background, it still required considerable courage on the part of President Lou Anna K. Simon and the MSU Board of Trustees to fund this initiative. At a time when the university has had to manage with unprecedented changes in the way that public higher education is funded in Michigan and throughout the country, the President and the Board, by investing in the RCAH, have demonstrated their commitment to the liberal arts and undergraduate education in general.
As we weave together the sights and sounds of the RCAH so that our passions, imaginations, sense of humor and candor are all in play, we will be drawing upon these alliances and legacies. The road ahead will not always be a smooth one. It shouldn't be. For the arts and humanities to be of use, a certain degree of friction is essential. Friction – differences in opinion and ways of life - prompts the imagination and provides the occasion for creative solutions and laughter born of humility. The RCAH provides an extraordinary opportunity for building a living and learning community in which mutual concern and delight, not fear, are our passions. The students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and community partners of Michigan State University deserve no less.
Stephen L. Esquith
Dean, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities