After more than three decades in the classroom, Ken Mayer has become an expert at navigating fraught territory.
Mayer, a professor of political science who teaches a popular course on the American presidency, has led some especially interesting discussions over the last four years.
But as ever, Mayer deftly walked the line, sticking to facts and the science of politics, while welcoming discussion and opinions. It’s a balancing act, he says, and he knows he’s done his job when students leave his classes not knowing which candidate, or political party, he supports.
“’What I’ve always told students is I have an obligation to be nonpartisan and neutral but I also have an obligation to be truthful,’” Mayer told the Wisconsin State Journal in a recent article about his course. Mayer, like his colleagues in both the political science department and across the College of Letters & Science, holds fast to the belief that it’s the mission of faculty to teach students how to think, not tell them what to think.
That critical distinction, one shared by faculty across Letters & Science’s 39 academic departments, speaks directly to the importance and value of a liberal arts education in a modern democratic society. As our nation faces overwhelming challenges, from an ongoing deadly health crisis to political polarization and economic and racial inequities, the liberal arts, and the many ways it teaches students to pointedly examine and discuss the world around them, remains one of the best tools to help address those challenges.
“We prepare generations of Badgers to be life-long learners, to think critically, to understand this country’s history and its meaning, and to understand the world around them,” says Eric Wilcots, Dean of the College of Letters & Science. “Our work is so vitally important because a democratic society depends on citizens who carry with them the important lessons of the liberal arts education we provide.”
In the past year alone, research in the College of Letters & Science has addressed several of the critical issues currently facing our world. Tools to battle the ongoing problem of implicit bias, developed by Professor of Psychology Patricia Devine, are critical to support the racial justice movements that took the national stage in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police last May. As millions of people struggled with loneliness and isolation under COVID-19 quarantine, Karen Smith, a post-doctoral student in the Department of Psychology, offered science-based strategies to address mental health. As a contentious presidential election unfolded, the Department of Political Science was a constant source of facts and historical context, not only for students in the classroom but also for reporters covering the presidential election.
These discoveries, and the thoughtful teaching that opens minds and expands students’ worldviews, are all made possible through the focused resources of a public research university, committed to the “continual and fearless sifting & winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” This has been the foundation of academic freedom at UW-Madison. As Chancellor Rebecca Blank has stated, “We must reaffirm the value of civic discussion and debate and affirm that facts matter and that there are ways to gather evidence and determine facts – that’s what sifting and winnowing is all about.”
“It’s about individuals trying to gather data and telling the world what they’ve found,” says Greg Downey, an Evjue-Bascom Professor in both the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Information School and the Associate Dean for Social Sciences in the College of Letters & Science. “That sort of practice is one of the core values of what we do and why we’re here. We’re trying to come up with different ideas to address important priorities, and then we get to work it all out and argue about it.”
For Downey, the key is teaching students the value of asking questions—and being open to being questioned themselves. In a world where it’s become difficult to convince people to agree on a shared set of facts, that openness becomes even more critical.
Downey recalls his own experience as a graduate student, studying history and geography. An instructor asked the class, “What does it mean to be rational?”
“A student sitting next to me raised her hand and said it was about being open to questioning,” Downey recalls. “You have the be willing to open your mind and have those difficult conversations. That moment has always stuck with me.”
As our country looks to heal its divisions and re-strengthen its democratic values, the liberal arts—and the College of Letters & Science—will remain at the forefront of the national discussion.
“We must continue to do what we do best: ask difficult questions, tackle hard problems, and have uncomfortable conversations civilly,” says Wilcots. “Above all, we must embrace our serious, shared calling to prepare global citizens for leadership, productive service, rewarding work, and fulfilling lives.”