Putting Wesleyan in Perspective: Studying the University
As a History professor, Judith Brown’s focus is the Italian Renaissance. During the past few years, however, she has used her experiences in academia to create a course that focuses on the history and ramifications of the university itself.
Offered as a Freshmen Year Initiative (FYI) each fall semester to incoming students, “Education in Society: Universities as Agents of Change, Ivory Towers, or Knowledge Factories” (HIST 116) provides new students with a comprehensive understanding of the university, from its origins in Europe in the Middle Ages across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, as well as a topical study of what comprises a university, from the perspective of students, professors, and administrators.
“I had seen a lot of different universities in different capacities and from a variety of points of view,” Brown said. “I had given a lot of thought to how they function and what their role is in society. I wanted to use what I had learned to help students.”
Charlie Alderman ’11, who took the course his freshmen year, says it enlightened his college experience.
“Even just being in an FYI at Wesleyan you’re really part of a progression,” he said. “Our professors are carrying on a tradition, even if they’re scholarship attempts to break with tradition.”
For Brown, the course is a culmination of a lifetime of experience on college campuses. In 1964, Brown was one of over 800 college students who occupied an administrative building at Berkley’s campus in California, refusing to leave until they were given the rights to free speech and political activism that had been stripped away during the height of McCarthyism. Following her youthful experiences in activism, Brown dove headfirst into academia, teaching at Stanford University for many years, and presiding as Dean of Humanities at Rice University. In 2000, she came to Wesleyan as the Vice-President of Academic Affairs, but after six years she resigned from the position.
“I needed a break from administration,” Brown said. “I wanted to go back to teaching.”
With her FYI, “Education in Society,” Brown has combined her experience both in the classroom, and administrative, to convey to her students just how special—and how fragile—universities really are.
“The thing about universities is that it’s not a coincidence that they’ve existed for so long,” Brown said. “You have Oxford and a Cambridge that go back for many, many centuries. They have an endowment, that helps, but basically they can grant a degree which is seen with respect in society as long as the university has high standards. If society sees that a university is not a quality place they will lose that respect.”
Throughout the course, students examine the university from a variety of perspectives, both positive and negative.
“You sometimes hear that universities are hotbeds of radical thinking and professors who brainwash their students with leftist ideas,” Brown said. “Studies show that’s not the case.”
The class also uses Virtual U, a computer simulation in which student teams have the role of presiding over a college. Each team chooses a type of school, varying from small liberal arts college to large research institution.
“[The students] set their goals and then see what happens,” Brown said. “Whether they can, for instance, fulfill the goal of not raising tuition while still staying solvent.”
Brown says the biggest issue facing colleges now is growing cost of tuition and the difficulties of maintaining sufficient financial aid.
“Society has not structured higher education in such a way that the poor and middle class do not have the access to higher education,” she said. “We’re a knowledge society. Succeeding in the future depends on having a college degree, and yet we’ve made it very hard to get that degree even if someone has the academic qualifications.”
The course is offered exclusively to freshmen each fall semester in the hopes that it will provide them with a more comprehensive understanding of how a university functions.
“It certainly gives them a much more sophisticated understanding of how the institution works,” Brown said. “A lot of the students have become active in student government. They can bring a more complex understanding to their college experience.”
According to Alderman, Professor Brown’s class helped put his experience at Wesleyan in perspective.
“I came to understand how quaint a liberal arts college is,” he said. “In terms of its architecture and philosophical mission, and its difference from large universities. I’ve carried that as a badge of honor.”