Hatrack River Forum: Southern Virginia University and Liberal Arts Education

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Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :

So, here it is:

www.southernvirginia.edu

Full disclosure: my sister went there for a semester; three cousins have also.

There's also this:

http://www.timesandseasons.org/wp/index.php?p=1233#more-1233

Particularly significant for my purposes is this quote:

"We are asking what it means to be the only liberal arts university in the LDS tradition. This requires exploring what liberal arts is, as an educational matter. We also explore what it means to be liberal arts and LDS. Is there something special that can be offered to liberal arts education by Latter-day Saints? We believe there is."

I'm particularly interested in this at the moment because I was down in 'Boona Vista,' as the locals call the city, a couple weeks ago. I've talked to a friend of mine who teaches there and another who's an alumnus about the place, liberal arts education, and so forth. One thing they're both concerned about is that the school - which currently has under 1000 students - is fielding a football team.

My alumnus friend finds this utterly baffling; he's complaining that the founders of the school are trying to make BYU-East. This, he feels, is wrong. He wholeheartedly embraces the quote above, and wants the school to embrace a classic humanistic, liberal arts education, with an LDS twist.

I don't want this thread to rehash complaints about academic freedom or repression or anything like that. Thus, nobody may make disparaging comparisions to Bob Jones University. (though this may be the place to note that the Utes are going to trash BYU on Saturday [Wink]

.)

What I'm interested in is this concept of a liberal arts education, particularly with this sort of religious flavor. Is this type of education somehow richer or more fulfilling than what you find at state schools or large private schools? This idea of Mormonism "bringing" something to liberal arts education in general also intrigues me; it seems to imply that an education with a Mormon, or Catholic, or Baptist, or any religious atmosphere and environment reaches across disciplines and infuses, say, classics, or English literature with - well, something. What is that? Does, say, Notre Dame have it?

Does the fact that Notre Dame have a football team take anything away?

Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :

"We are asking what it means to be the only liberal arts university in the LDS tradition. This requires exploring what liberal arts is, as an educational matter. We also explore what it means to be liberal arts and LDS. Is there something special that can be offered to liberal arts education by Latter-day Saints? We believe there is."

This sounds nice. I do wonder what liberal arts are so that they call for the predicate "is." Why isn't it, "This requires exploring what liberal arts are, as educational matters"?

Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :

I actually graduated from BYU with degrees in Classics and English Literature and enjoyed my scholarly experience immensely. Of course, I've always loved football, too. I fail to see how fielding a team somehow takes away a school's "tower cred."

Interesting coincidence: one of the Ph.D. programs I'm applying to is at Notre Dame, so I'm a really big fan of theirs, too (until/unless I get rejected).

Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :

Dante -
To be fair, I think a good deal of the football concern has to do with money. The school's on a tight budget; it's been accredited for maybe six years now and football costs, particularly when you have less than a thousand students.

I think, though, there *is* some sort of vision of the 'small liberal arts' school floating around here, and football doesn't fit that image for these people I've talked to.

I guess another way of phrasing my question is - does this sort of religious environment enrich a liberal arts education?

Posted by TimeTim (Member # 2768) on :

Guilford College, in NC has a around 1000 students and has had a football team for a several years. They are really bad and suck money away from where it is truly needed. They should pay the rugby team instead. Anyway, Guilford is a quaker affiliated, heritage, whatever, school so I thought this might be somewhat relevant.

Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :

SVU recruited me a bit in High School -- they were tickled to find a mormon in Arkansas. I opted for BYU, but cried bitter tears when I found out that OSC taught a Creative Writing class there. [Frown]

Would it have changed my mind--probably not. [Big Grin]

Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :

Wow. It only costs 5 1/2 times as much as BYU-Idaho. Gotta love LDS colleges that aren't actually OWNED by the church [Smile]