I read “Newman’s longtime literary journal coming to an end” (Vantage, October 17, 2024) with a good deal of sadness and regret for my school.
While we can cheer the successes of students who go on to profitable careers, there is (as the cliché goes) more to life than just working to make money. The arts have a place in a well-rounded person’s life, whether partaking or participating. A college (especially a Liberal Arts education, which we were once proud of presenting) should be a place where students can take part in things they wouldn’t ordinarily do; get on stage, write, try out for a team, learn a new language, study one of the sciences, look into a vocation, any one of a number of things that might make a person’s life more rounded or introduce them to a new career possibility.
During the years I went to (then) Kansas Newman College, I got on any number of stages, sang and did all kinds of writing, including for the Vantage. This launched me into a career as a published fiction writer, which I took on with no regrets, and I feel the Newman education made my life better.
I am not knocking an emphasis on STEM (especially in an era of increasing willful scientific ignorance!) but I hope the banishing of the arts is only temporary. Bringing back those disciplines will only make our students’ lives better.
Jeff Baker, Class of 1983, BA (“A” as in “Arts”)
PHOTO: Vantage Archives
