Faculty Forum Papers
November 1975 - Whither CLA?
By
Stephen J. Hawkes
Chemistry
October 21, 1975
Professor Hovland's letter in the October issue seems to suppose that if we had a vastly improved College
of Liberal Arts there would be fruitful dialog between the faculties of science and humanities leading to
improved understanding and informed discussion on the technological-humanitarian issues of our time.
There would not.
Scientists and humanitarians would remain in their separate colleges and, if they have dialog on these
issues at all, would find it in regional or national forums. There is no substantial reason for OSU to
supply anything other than scientists to these. Let Eugene supply the humanitarians.
Neither would our students have the benefit of the dual education. In 18 hours of H. and S.S. our science
students will continue to get introductions to History and English Literature and so forth, while students
of the humanities get the beginning sequence of professional science programs. In neither case will they
be equipped with the sophistication for a multidisciplinary approach to sociotechnological problems. The
difficulties inherent in the general education of our students are formidable, but there is no reason to
suppose that prestigious College of Liberal Arts would proportionately improve the University's ability
to resolve them or even improve it significantly at all.
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