Jim Amidon — Did you see the little page two-story on Wabash College in the local papers last week? I think the headline read something like, “Lilly Endowment Awards $12.5 Million to Wabash.” What followed were a couple of paragraphs of mostly esoteric jargon about an additional five years of funding for the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash.
I oughta know about the esoteric jargon; I wrote the press release and the one which appears on the Wabash website.
And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if almost none of our regular web readers bothered to go past the headline. So one of the world’s largest private endowments gave Wabash’s prestigious Center of Inquiry another $12.5 million. Big deal.
I’ve struggled for the last five years to adequately put into words the work of the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. Part of the problem is that almost nobody — even in higher education — can agree on what the liberal arts constitute. Millions of Americans have no idea whatsoever what the liberal arts are. Even more care less about another “think tank” doing research nobody understands. Fair enough.
Let me break it down more simply than I was able to do in the press release I sent out last week.
Lilly Endowment’s commitment to the Center of Inquiry is a commitment to Wabash. The Endowment further funded the Center’s work because it believes in Wabash, its administration, and liberal arts education.
So, what exactly did Lilly Endowment fund with its $12.5 million?
Sweeping opportunities for Wabash College faculty and students, not to mention researchers at the Center of Inquiry.
Put in this context, the grant doesn’t seem esoteric at all, and the Center of Inquiry looks less like a think tank and more like a laboratory for higher education.
Lilly’s generosity will continue to reshape Wabash and the education our students receive. And the Endowment makes this investment because it truly believes in the Wabash brand of the liberal arts, which is evolving every day thanks to the work of the Center.
