Making the Case for Liberal Education

The articles, speeches and editorials below highlight presidential voices speaking out in support of liberal education. Through Campus-Community Dialogues, as well as articles and speeches, many AAC&U member presidents have rallied to the call to promote the value of liberal education for all students, regardless of their field of study or intended career.

If you are a president who has written an article or delivered a speech promoting the benefits of a practical and engaged liberal education or you have seen such a piece, please submit it for inclusion on this page to Bethany Zecher Sutton, program director for the Presidents' CALL (sutton@aacu.org).

Robert Caret, President, San José State University
Commentary on National Public Radio
Workplace Demands Broad Set of Skills

William Durden, President, Dickinson College
Liberal Arts for All, Not Just the Rich
The Liberal Arts as a Bulwark of Business Education

Bobby Fong, President, Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana
Inauguration Speech (excerpted)
Great Expectations for College Achievement (with Carol Geary Schneider)

Leo I. Higdon, Jr., President, College of Charleston
Liberal Arts Education Suits These Changing Times

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Convocation Address, August 2002

Edward M. Hundert, President, Case Western Reserve University
Liberal Learning for the Twenty-First Century (PDF)

Theodore E. Long, President, Elizabethtown College
The Civic Renewal of Liberal Education

Carol Lucey, President, Western Nevada Community College
Training Versus Education: A False Choice

Robert A. Miller, President, Nazareth College
Narrowing the Liberal Arts Destroys Degrees' Value

Michael Mooney, Former President, Lewis & Clark College
The Value of the Liberal Arts

Stuart Rabinowitz, President, Hofstra University
Inaugural Address (excerpted)

Richard J. Scaldini, President, Hiram College
Ohio's Problem Isn't Braindrain; It's Myopia

Carol Geary Schneider, President, Association of American Colleges
and Universities
Liberal Education: A for Creativity; D- for Communication....

John Strassburger, President, Ursinus College
Who Owns Our Values?

Elisabeth Zinser, President, Southern Oregon University
Our Place in the Sunlight: Oregon’s Contemporary Public Liberal Arts University
Southern Oregon University Commencement Remarks, June 11 2005

Business Leaders' Testimonials

The Presidents' Campaign for the Advancement of Liberal Learning is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. For more information contact Bethany Zecher Sutton at 202-387-3760.