Friday, September 14: A Week that Affirmed Community

As we arrive at Friday, I find myself thinking about two events of the past week that I believe herald the kind of community we continually create together.

The first was the overwhelming response of the entire College community to the Easton gas explosion that seriously affected six of our off-campus students. While behind the scenes we were trying to verify information, so many people stepped in to provide clear and accurate communications and to determine the actions that needed to be taken. We had timely updates posted on the web; creative residence solutions for offering the students on-campus housing; generous donations of College funds for clothing, food, and necessities; relocation of computers to the residences; and a swift gathering of books and materials to prepare the students for as smooth a transition back to the classroom as they can manage. In talking with friends and colleagues from other institutions, I’m discovering that what’s “normal” at Stonehill would not necessarily be the course of action elsewhere.

But I was also struck by the large and small gestures of generosity that came from so many of you. More than one faculty member offered to house students if they needed temporary or longer residence. Calls poured in to inquire about a campus fundraiser for those affected. And late yesterday, I was on the phone with the Residence Director at Notre Dame du Lac to ask if he could open the door for a faculty member who had baked brownies for the students! Thanks to all of you for nurturing and sustaining this kind of community response. It makes me, for one, want to get up and go to work in the morning.

Also inspiring as a community-building occasion was the first event in the “re-founding” year of the Martin Institute for Law and Society. As I mentioned in my letter last week, many college students expect to attend campus events, and many at colleges an universities around the country report that they have not been encouraged to do so. Well, the 300+ students, faculty and others at the screening of Eugene Jarecki’s Why We Fight entered into lively conversation with the director and each other after watching the 90-minute film. This event, which kicked off a year dedicated to the theme of “War” in the Martin Institute, was just one of many examples of the kind of meaningful co-curricular programming Stonehill has become so good at. The Martin Institute has long been a place where such programming occurs, but under the leadership of Prof. Peter Ubertaccio, some new directions will also be pursued.

As many of you will remember, for the last two years, significant attention has been given to the mission and focus of the Martin Institute. Led by former Trustee Paul Kirk, a past Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and current Chairman of the Board of the John F. Kennedy Library, the Martin Institute Task Force (2005-06) and the Martin Institute Steering Committee (2006-07) created a new “Mission and Philosophy” to guide the Institute and to provide a mandate to its director. Emphasizing a dual focus on public policy and social justice, the Martin Institute philosophy states that:

“The Institute advances the mission of Stonehill College by critically exploring the concepts of ‘law’ and ‘society’ through a focus on public policy and social justice. Public policy encompasses local, state, national and international constituencies, and is concerned with all of the engagements people have with public life. It crosses the boundaries of an exclusively disciplinary focus and involves theories and data from every discipline and examines the initiation of policy through its development, execution and evaluation. Social justice takes as its starting point that ‘every citizen…has the responsibility to work to secure justice and human rights through an organized social response…The guaranteeing of basic justice for all is not an optional expression of largesse but an inescapable duty for the whole of society.’ (Economic Justice for All, No. 120) It includes empirical study and applied analysis of political structures, policies and practices, civil society, culture, and events that occur outside of the dominant political and social structure.”

Working with a faculty steering committee, Peter Ubertaccio has developed bold plans for this year that include ongoing co-curricular activities around the “War” theme, student and faculty research grants, the week-long visit of our first Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and two academic conferences (one called “The State of New England: People, Politics, and Policies” and the other “The Music of War: An Interdisciplinary Conference”). I encourage you to visit the Martin Institute website for more information. I’m sure Peter would appreciate any feedback or any ideas for the future.

The Martin Steering Committee will announce its first two-year theme in November, at which point all faculty will be invited into the most ambitious of the goals for the Institute: to develop curriculum that links to the overarching theme: first-year seminars, sophomore learning communities, ideas for interdisciplinary concentrations--these will all be encouraged.

Both retrospectively and prospectively, I want to thank all of you for your ongoing efforts to make this a community that cares about people and cares about ideas--as was so evident in your level of engagement with both these events this week.

Best regards,
Katie