Philip Gosset: The Humanities Inside and Outside the Academy

But then what? After you've succeeded, as the overwhelming majority of you will succeed, in business, in your chosen profession, or even in more modestly remunerated teaching and research, what will remain of the intellectual and artistic values we have sought to cultivate at the University? What indeed will be the relationship between life inside and outside the academy? I had the privilege of serving for ten years as Dean of the Division of the Humanities. That experience reinforced my conviction that what we achieve as scholars at Chicago, and what we have developed with you in the classroom-even in the ostensibly "impractical" liberal arts-has profound, though often unforeseen, ramifications for our society. But it also made me even more aware that the artistic opportunities available to students in our community need to provide the basis for a life-long commitment to the arts and humanities.

From the scholarly side, I myself am a musicologist (a field of study that has recently acquired a certain cachet at this University). Having been a keen opera fan in my youth, I wrote a doctoral dissertation centering on nineteenth-century Italian opera: the music of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. Without any thought for the practical consequences of pursuing my passion, I delved into European and American archives, looking at manuscripts, reconstructing lost operas, reevaluating scores. I could not have predicted that a resurgence of interest in bel canto opera during the 1970s would suddenly make my research important to performers and impresarios. Since the early 1980s I have been directing critical editions of the complete works of Rossini and Verdi (the latter co-published by the University of Chicago Press). Performances this year at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Santa Fe, and the Vienna Staatsoper, to take a few examples, employ these editions. In Lyric Opera of Chicago's Attila next year, you'll hear a lost Verdi aria, whose first performance since the 1840s took place right here at the University.

But my experience as a humanist whose scholarly passion turned out to have ramifications beyond the academy, is hardly unique. When UNESCO was evaluating border issues in the Balkans, Victor Friedman in the Slavic department assisted them in understanding the geopolitical implications of South Slavic languages and dialects. The growing number of performances of plays and music written by cloistered nuns in Italy during the seventeenth century owes everything to the research of Elissa Weaver in Romance Languages. Museums seeking to comprehend the force of multiculturalism among contemporary artists turn regularly to Homi Bhabha in English and Art for advice. Cosmetic surgeons cannot avoid contemplating the evolving visions of bodily beauty analyzed by Sander Gilman in Germanic Studies. And one can only hope that debates in Illinois about capital punishment will draw on the insights into punishment and community values of classicist Danielle Allen in her book, The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens.

I could go on and on (and have been known to do so). None of these scholars chose his or her life's work because of its public implications. This University stands on the principle that advancement of knowledge in the humanities, both within disciplines or between them, just as advancement of knowledge in economics, mathematics, and neurobiology, is intrinsically worthy. That such research often has significance in the broader public sphere is to be welcomed, cultivated, celebrated. If you think I intend to convey a message here, as each of you faces the future, about devoting yourself to what demands your attention, to what you cannot ignore, you're right. And I believe that Chicago is singularly successful at establishing this principle in the souls of its graduates. It is as valid for those in the world of business as for those in scholarship. You have been through years of intense intellectual engagement, and at times this day may have seemed almost unattainable. Yet here you are, with your families and friends, to celebrate the moment, a moment to recognize your extraordinary achievements.

But, in good Chicago tradition, I would not want to leave you (or us) feeling too comfortable. I continue to wonder whether we are equally successful as an institution in providing you with adequate internal resources to develop a richly nuanced and sustained cultural life in later years. Do we sufficiently assist you in acquiring the skills that will keep you engaged with the cultural production of our own time in art, music, literature, dance, or theater? I am concerned for each of you individually, and I am concerned for the future of the arts. Without denigrating in the slightest our vibrant and culturally diverse popular culture in music or film, there are troublesome signs. Audiences at the Chicago Symphony seem older every year, while task forces whisper behind closed doors that subscription audiences decline when modern music is performed; serious contemporary drama has all but disappeared from Broadway, where once it flourished; television-where the multiplication of available channels has had little effect on creativity-remains a wasteland; and-thanks to merger mania-there are fewer publishing venues than ever for poetry or serious fiction.

It is not that the University is idle. Artistic opportunities in our community and in easily accessible venues throughout the city are extraordinary. Along with all the University Nobel Prize-winners in economics, on our faculty at this very moment, actively teaching undergraduates and graduate students, are a Poet Laureate of the United States, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize in music, a MacArthur Fellow in musical composition, a two-time winner of the Booker Prize for fiction, and an honoree of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. Perhaps you have had an opportunity to read John Coetzee's Disgrace or Mark Strand's Blizzard of One or to attend performances of John Eaton's Pocket Opera. Across the corridor on the fourth floor of Cobb Hall, the Renaissance Society, one of the finest art galleries in America, offers the best in contemporary art. And I hope you were among those fortunate enough to see Transience at the Smart Museum last year, an amazing exhibit of contemporary art from mainland China.

Next year's season at the University's Court Theatre will feature the Chicago premiere of a new play by Tom Stoppard, directed by a distinguished alumna (stage director Joanne Akalaitis), and the world premiere of a new opera by another University alumnus, Philip Glass. And we are in the midst of an ongoing Shostakovich festival, with visiting ensembles performing the composer's controversial and politically charged works for string quartet, to be capped in late April by a visit from the three-time Grammy award-winning Emerson Quartet. (I know they're not Carlos Santana. . . .)

Twenty minutes away by Metra or University of Chicago Express, of course, are the Art Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art, the Chicago Symphony (with specially priced tickets for students), Lyric Opera (which features contemporary opera every year), and more new and experimental theater per square inch than any city in the country.

Many students are involved in this activity, of course, attending performances or actually participating. Student theater flourishes on campus. Students run a major film series, from Hollywood hits to classical American films to foreign and experimental cinema. They play in the orchestra or jazz ensemble; they sing in the chorus or motet choir; they edit the Chicago Literary Review. The University does its part by publishing guides, providing buses, and listing events. For some of you, these experiences are deeply meaningful. An alumnus who served as concertmaster of the University Symphony in the 1960s has recently created a major endowment to support student musical performance, and in May the recital hall in Goodspeed will be formally named Fulton Hall in recognition of his gift.

Despite all this activity, though, I fear that too many students may pass through the University with only a vague sense of the potential importance of the arts to their life. Perhaps the premium we rightly place upon an intellectually engaged and theoretically informed classroom experience makes it more difficult for students at Chicago to acquire these artistic sensitivities. We have little room in our curriculum for the kind of introduction to art history that helped develop the taste and establish the museum-going habits of generations of students. While I don't advocate "survey courses" at Chicago, Heaven forbid, I do wonder whether there are other things our University might do to send a more compelling message about the importance of the arts to students throughout our community, whatever their field of study. Perhaps the Cultural Policy Initiative of the Harris School for public policy and the Division of the Humanities could prove influential. One of my most memorable experiences at college, in fact, was a reading group in contemporary poetry directed by a professor of classics. Every two weeks he appeared with a sheaf of mimeographed poems, many just published, and we read Lowell, Snodgrass, Sexton, and Wilbur together for the sheer pleasure of the experience.

The poetry, art, music, literature, and theater of our time speak directly to who we are as individuals and what we are as a society. It challenges us with new sounds, new images, new and often controversial ideas. It makes us more alive. Despite the many pressures you have felt over the past few years, I hope you have been able to take some advantage of what this community and this city has had to offer. Even more, I hope that whatever you may do in the future, you will make contemporary literature and the arts an integral part of your lives. You are potential leaders in your communities. The future of the arts in America lies in your hands: you will help set policy for state and local governments, you will have an important presence in the classroom at every educational level, you will serve on citizens' boards, you will be influential in corporations whose enlightened policies and contributions will be fundamental to the well-being of arts organizations. Remember a play you saw at the University, a concert in which a friend performed, a picture that moved or disturbed you, a novel that made you think differently about your life, a poem that perfectly captured feelings you were barely willing to admit having. And help ensure, in whatever way you can, that future generations both inside and outside the academy will continue to have these experiences.

You have accomplished much, and you and your loved ones have every reason to be proud. I join with all your teachers in congratulating you and wishing you well in everything you do.

Philip Gossett is the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music and the College.

Summary

The 459th convocation was held on Friday, March 17, 2000, in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Hugo F. Sonnenschein, President of the University, presided.

A total of 432 degrees were awarded: 35 Bachelor of Arts in the College, 3 Bachelor of Science in the College and the Division of the Physical Sciences, 2 Master of Science in the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine, 13 Master of Arts in the Division of the Humanities, 19 Master of Science in the Division of the Physical Sciences, 34 Master of Arts in the Division of the Social Sciences, 1 Master of Arts in Teaching in the Division of the Social Sciences, 269 Master of Business Administration in the Graduate School of Business, 4 International Master of Business Administration in the Graduate School of Business, 3 Master of Arts in the Divinity School, 1 Master of Liberal Arts in the William B. and Catherine V. Graham School of General Studies, 2 Master of Public Policy in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, 2 Master of Arts the School of Social Service Administration, 5 Doctor of Philosophy in the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine, 7 Doctor of Philosophy in the Division of the Humanities, 7 Doctor of Philosophy in the Division of the Physical Sciences, 16 doctor of Philosophy in the Division of the Social Sciences, 1 Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Business, 5 Doctor of Philosophy in the Divinity School, 1 Doctor of Law in the Law School, and 2 Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Social Service Administration.

Philip Gossett, the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music and the College, delivered the convocation address, "The Humanities Inside and Outside the Academy."

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