Clark University’s official website states that it brings a “rigorous liberal arts curriculum to every stage of a student’s academic experience.” However, the Clark Experience has in recent years gotten more and more “employable,” undermining the liberal arts and now the administration is going to downsize them in real-time. This article seeks to answer: What is a liberal arts education? Why is it important? And what should Clark be doing to remain true to its mission?

The phrase ‘Liberal Arts’ comes from the word liberty, inspiring freedom of the mind and thought. Philosophy, history, literature, the fine arts… These (among others) are the keys to liberty, and the disciplines that Thomas Jefferson immortalized in the curriculum of his University of Virginia. According to Jefferson, the liberal arts are the foundations for a democratic society and necessary to form an active, engaged, and critically-thinking citizenry.

Nowadays, with the emergence of far-right political movements and the growing threat to democracy under the Trump administration, these truths hold more than ever. Critical thinking, ethics, the ability to see beyond the veil of populism and personality… These are all skills reinforced in the liberal arts. Today, their absence is the foundation for MAGA, the far-right, and much that is wrong in the political world. By sacrificing the liberal arts, the pillars of democracy could fall to authoritarian rule in the snap of a finger.

All of Clark’s liberal arts requirements are vested in the Clark Core, nine liberal arts credits one must fulfill to graduate. To satisfy Core requirements, students have a wide variety of classes to choose from. Some are quite niche, like “Wandering in French-Speaking Societies,” “History of Math,” or “Water and the City of Worcester” – A far cry from the classical thought envisioned by Jefferson, and not very helpful in creating engaged citizens.

Furthermore, there are many ways students can get around the Clark Core, and graduate without taking many liberal arts classes at all. Many students, especially those in highly technical majors, choose Core classes integrated into their major, thereby forsaking the well-rounded, liberal education the Core is supposed to be. For example, a Game Design major might take “History of Game Development” to fulfill their history requirement. Other students enroll in courses that satisfy two Clark Core requirements at once, killing “two birds with one stone,” so to speak. Yet more students satisfy their Core requirements through AP credits before coming to Clark at all. When I arrived on campus as a freshman, I had already waived two of my  Clark Core requirements.

Clearly, this is not the “rigorous liberal arts curriculum” the website makes it out to be.

There are three things Clark needs to do to make it so. First, it needs to institute courses every student needs to take. These would be courses that provide the foundation for living in and contributing to society, such as “Intro to American Government” or “Personal Values.” Second, it needs to make sure every student takes their nine Core courses. Students should not be able to waive Core requirements through Advanced Placement, and no class should satisfy two requirements at once. Last, Clark needs to adopt stricter requirements in determining what classes satisfy the various requirements.

It’s not that Clark doesn’t have the money to support these programs. Rather, it just seems it… doesn’t really care about philosophy, or literature or the fine arts. Even before the proposals to cut humanities, developments have shown an intent to expand in the tech industry and leave the liberal arts behind:

• In 2021, Clark launched the Becker School of Design & Technology, which houses one of the best Game Design programs in the country. The Becker School is located in the 70,000-foot, newly-opened Center for Media, Computing, Arts and Design alongside the Computer Science Department.
• Clark’s newest majors and minors are Interactive Media, Data Science, and Marketing, Actuarial and Financial Mathematics, Business Data Analytics, and Dance- all but one of which are highly technical.
• Last year, John Magee was promoted to the position of Interim Provost from his job as Professor of Computer Science. Magee is the first Provost to specialize outside the liberal arts in at least two decades.

According to Administration, these changes all help prepare Clark for long-term success. “Yes, Clark is getting more career-oriented,” they say, “This is just giving our students what they demand! People are going to college nowadays just to get jobs, not to become well-rounded citizens that contribute to democracy! How can we ever attract high school seniors to apply by teaching Shakespeare?”

In 2023, West Virginia University English professor Adam Komisaruk lamented the university’s cuts to the humanities. “It is our mission… simply to respond to market forces and popular prejudice, and to make educational decisions based on supply and demand?,” he asked. “Or are we committed to providing a robust and diverse exposure to modes of thought that will allow our students to become knowledgeable, responsible, and ethically engaged members of society?”

For a college that claims to Challenge Convention, Clark is showing remarkable conformity to national trends. For a college that claims to Change our World, Clark is following the path that inhibits it.