Panic Button

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on the Arts & Sciences

The Irish Studies Program (along with the Chinese language and the master’s in English literature degree) are awaiting the decision by the Board of Regents as to whether they will continue to exist at the University of Montana or not. That’s the “panic button,” so I’m hammering it right now. Not that they will listen to me, but they will listen to “us” if enough of us contact them and tell them we are not on board with this plan.

If you feel like I do, please take a few minutes to write them a note about why you don’t want these programs to go away. I am including the letter I sent to them here.

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Dear Regents,

I won’t reiterate the details you have already read concerning the ramifications from eliminating the Irish Studies Program, Chinese, and the master’s in English literature degree. I want to argue that these programs are all essential aspects of Higher Education.

I earned BA degrees in Psychology (1979) and English (1985) then took an MFA in English Creative Writing (1998). I also earned a secondary education certificate and a Drama minor. That Education certificate was the only thing that directly led to employment for me. I was a high school classroom teacher for a decade in Augusta and Ronan. But I didn’t attend college to get a job. I wanted a higher education. I wanted to learn history, understand science, and read the philosophers and literature. I wanted to know what others knew and discuss with teachers and fellow students those theories, ideas, and scenarios that humankind had been collecting and discussing for hundreds and thousands of years. I wanted to learn how to think and help make life better for all of us on the planet.

It seems like that vision of higher education has been branded as elitist and not practical for citizens “who need a good job” and “more bang for their buck.” That perspective turns college into an expensive vocational school. We should be focusing on graduating critical thinkers. Those people will succeed at whatever job or career they choose. Things change so fast these days, every endeavor needs intelligent adaptable thinkers, creative minds. A democracy, in particular, needs those people. An authoritarian society doesn’t want free thinkers. When we eliminate languages, literature, and historical, scientific and cultural programs from higher education, it’s the kiss of death.

My Irish grandparents arrived in Butte in 1916, became American citizens in 1934. Their bones lie in the Beaverhead County cemetery. From Thomas Francis Meagher to Marcus Daly to Pat Williams, the Irish have impacted Montana since its inception as a territory, and the Irish Studies Program continues to contribute to and celebrate that culture, honoring the Irish traditions of independence and community. People across Montana, the United States, and Ireland have joyfully engaged with the University of Montana because of Irish Studies. My grandparents, Irish speakers, who came from Connemara, abandoned their language to become Americans. My great-uncle Tommy Joyce died in the Speculator mine disaster in 1917. They arrived poor and Catholic, unappreciated immigrants, but they worked hard and raised three children, buried two. My brother and I were the first two in our family to earn college degrees. The library is where I discovered Irish literature and history. I wish there would have been an Irish Studies Program back then.

I don’t want to see the Chinese language eliminated either, and as an MFA graduate student in writing, the master’s in English literature classes I took were invaluable. All writers are readers and imitators before they embark on their own journeies of expression. The University of Montana has been known as one of the best state liberal arts institutions in the country. Please work at bolstering that tradition and the programs that make it unique.

Having served as the 10th Montana Poet Laureate and taught poetry classes across the state for 40 years, I implore you retain these programs. As a taxpayer, a father, a truck driver and furniture mover for 20 years; as a Class C kid who worked on ranches summers till football season; and as one who has lived in this state on both sides of the divide for all their life, I know what it takes to survive here, and I know there is more to living this life than making money.

And I am aware of the “pie is only so big” argument. If we give up on truly educating our citizens because we can’t afford to fund it, we’re done. In the richest country in the world where 90% of our wealth is held by less than 30% of the people, it’s past time to make some “not-so-hard choices” regarding taxation. There’s no reason why all students shouldn’t receive the education they choose for less than I paid in 1972: tuition and books for under $500 a year. If I have outlived that reality (dream) I’m ready for the dirt nap. Our kids deserve higher education if they want it. There are vocational schools and trade schools, training offered by companies and private schools to acquire current job skills, but a real education puts us in touch with the past, the world, our fellow humans, the planet, and ourselves. It builds a culture and strengthens a healthy society. Those life lessons we learn at home and in our communities are supported and challenged by a strong arts & sciences education.

Thank you for considering the value of retaining these programs.

Sincerely.

Mark Gibbons

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And since there’s usually a poem in my posts, here’s a new one that often elicits a scramble for the panic button: being lost. May you enjoy this little poem and get lost. Peace

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Lost

Who isn’t
Those who aren’t
Are shitting themselves

Acknowledging that
We are lost
Is the beginning

And the end of it
We don’t need to act
Afraid of being

Lost in the woods
That dense jungle
Of our thoughts

Our fears alone
Walk toward the sun
Get down on your knees

Drink from the creek
Breathe deeply
The trees

Listen to the silence
After Meadowlark trills
Chew slowly 

Smell your skin
Lick the sweat  
Trickling off your chin

Then feel your heart
Beat and smile again
Glad to be lost

Mark Gibbons