Pioneers on the Frontier

It was 1977 or '78. I was a new faculty member at what is now the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Under then President Walter Midener, the school had transformed itself from a 2-year arts and crafts vocational school to a 4-year college awarding bachelor degrees.

Under these august new conditions, the faculty had begun to meet as a body to decide matters of mission, curriculum, standards, etc.--all the things faculty typically do.

It must have been difficult for the faculty members to determine the appropriate level of dignity to attach to all these proceedings. At one of the faculty meetings, one committee report went as follows: the faculty member elected chair stood up and announced that the committee felt its first act had to be a change of name for the committee: from "Faculty Affairs" to "Faculty Concerns." Then he waited while amused laughter rippled through the rest of the faculty present. Then he sat down and we went on to the next committee report.

There were some who took the meetings very seriously, though. At the first meeting I remember attending at my new institution, as soon as the meeting was "called to order" (Robert's Rules seemed like new and unfamiliar institution in and of itself) a shout was heard from the middle of the room: "When are we actually going to do something creative at this school?" I wondered what I had gotten myself into, but have since discovered that obstreperous behavior can be a sign of health and vitality.

These carryings-on were a complete breath of fresh air after my previous institution, Wayne State University, where the English Department seemed driven (as a department) by bitter rivalry, squabbles, back-stabbing, pretentiousness, and mid-level scholars with the air of international intellectual superstars. Much as I liked individuals there, the department was pretty sorry.