Staysniak, Chris

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 44 Article 249-1-2013Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit IdentityChris StaysniakFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationStaysniak, Chris (2013) "Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit Identity," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 44, Article24.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol44/iss1/24Conversations 37One of the centralpoints that drewme to BostonCollege as I beganto pursue graduatestudies in Americanhistory was itsJesuit identity.Having been influenced so deeply bymy Jesuit high school and undergradu-ate experiences, I felt it was the best fitfor me and the way I wanted to framemy future praxis as a historian. Havingnow completed my first year of studies,it is clear to me that BC works very hardto negotiate the tension between itsobligations as both a Jesuit and aworld-class research university. I havewitnessed many of the programmaticefforts in this ongoing affair firsthand,working as a graduate assistant in theschool’s Office of University Missionand Ministry. In this capacity I havebecome familiar with the abundance ofopportunities to engage with theschool’s Jesuit foundations available tothe BC community. To name a few,these include the Arrupe InternationalImmersion Program, the IntersectionsProject, and Halftime retreats. The peo-ple who run these programs caredeeply about the work that they do,and the result is nothing short ofimpressive. It has been a real joy andan education unto itself to be a smallcog in these wheels. Juxtaposed to my experience inMission and Ministry have been mygraduate studies in history. In the cul-ture of the department, there is what Ican best describe as a noteworthy indif-ference to the school’s Jesuit underpin-nings. The school’s heritage is a non-factor. Now, this culture shock was nota complete surprise, even for a zealousproponent of Jesuit pedagogy like me. Ifully understand that my studies aremeant to prepare me to be a historianfirst, and that my training is shaped bythe dictates of the wider historical enter-prise. I would be dreaming to think thatPedro Arrupe or Dean Brackley wouldsurface in classroom conversations asfrequently as Foner or Foucault! Still, Ihave found this absence of BC’s Jesuitidentity within my studies a conundrumworth further examination. I have spent considerable time thispast year–often with more pressingassignments looming!–contemplatingthis tension between preparation forthe demands of the historical profes-sion and the school’s Jesuit identity. Isthere a way they can constructivelysupport one another? Can drawingGraduate School and Jesuit Identity By Chris StaysniakChris Staysniak is a doctoral studentin history at Boston College.1Staysniak: Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit IdentityPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201338 Conversationsupon the university’s Jesuit idealsalso enrich the training received byhistory graduate students at BC? Inmy reflections, I have come to twoconcrete proposals on how thismight be achieved. First, I propose the creation andinstitutionalization of space withinthe department for the purpose ofreflection. Practically speaking, onceor twice a month a room could bereserved for interested graduate stu-dents and faculty alike to discusslarger vocational questions over therequisite coffee and baked goods.For example: Why do we study his-tory? What does it mean to be a his-torian? What are our goals, andwhere does a degree fit within them?I know that these conversations hap-pen every day within the depart-ment, but never in an organizedway. These conversations are centralto our training, but they are largely amatter of time and circumstances.These greater questions are alsooften moved to the back burner asthe semester proceeds and theworkload intensifies. It is no secret that the world ofhigher education is rife with changeand worries over developments likethe rise of MOOC’s, a shrinking pro-fessorial job market, and the ever-fer-menting popular resentment over theprice of a college education. Add tothese the worries of the historical fieldin particular, as well as the day-to-daydemands of class and research.Throw in the challenges of living on agraduate student stipend, and thatmakes for a whole lot to think andpotentially worry about! As such, thecreation of an intentional space forreflection and discernment would, Ifeel, be a boon to many a graduatestudent who might not make the timefor introspection otherwise. Evenwhile the reflection questions willmost likely not use specificallyIgnatian language or talk of Jesuiteducation, I think carving out such atime and space within t he departmentwould be a practical programmaticimprovement as well as a distinctlyJesuit exercise, given the centrality ofdiscernment and reflection to Jesuitspirituality and pedagogy.Mysecond proposal stems from an emailone Jesuit from my undergraduateyears wrote to me upon hearing ofmy acceptance to BC. Within his con-gratulations he urged me to find somesort of local service to pursue, writingthat, “While they [your studies] arecrucially important…they cannotbecome 100% of your focus, for therest of the world continues to exist.” I have since learned that the rig-ors of archival research and ever-expanding reading lists can easilyconsume one’s life as a graduate stu-dent, making for an insular exis-tence that often borders on hermet-ic. This serves to perpetuate theoften-levied criticism that highereducation is inward-looking, asembodied in the notorious ivorytower caricature. I have managed tomake a commitment to work in asoup kitchen, but it would be unre-alistic to demand that my cohorts inthe department all partake in similarventures. Instead, I believe that acommitment to local history mightserve as a constructive response tosome of these aforementionedcharges and challenges, while simul-taneously tapping into Jesuit values. Gasson Hall, Boston College.2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 44, Iss. 1 [2013], Art. 24http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol44/iss1/24Conversations 39For Jesuit basketball sup-porters, the madness isending as I write. Nolonger will we contributeto the estimated loss offour million productivework hours by watching,for example, theMarquette men’s basketball team–the laststanding Jesuit school in the annual pit ofproductivity quicksand that is the NCAAtournament–on our work computers.Marquette just had the life crushed fromthem by the Orangemen of Syracuse. Butafter reading the last issue ofConversations, it’s clear that the samecannot also be said of the liveliness ofeloquentia perfecta in Jesuit universities. In making a contemporary case foreloquentia perfecta, that issue pointedout that much of what was always true ofgood predigital rhetoric remains true ofgood digital rhetoric. Two points regard-ing this continuity are particularly impor-tant. First, as Paul Lynch gracefullyreminded us, rhetoric remains the tool fordiscerning the “available means of per-suasion” in a given situation. While theavailable means and the problems to beovercome change, the demand that weevaluate our options with care in order toproceed with efficacy remains. Second,the tight bond between the cultivation ofrhetorical skill and the cultivation of goodcharacter remains a goal of Jesuit rhetor-ical education. It was John O’Malley whonoted that such character formation isshaped by the same perennial questions“of life and death, of virtue and vice.”And Stephen Mailloux noted that in clas-sical rhetoric it is the good person who isable to speak well for the common good.Both of these traits remain the same.But what has changed? We mighthypothesize that if it’s not the essence orthe ends of rhetoric that have changed,then it must be the means. And this ispartially true. Persuasion is certainlyaccomplished through different means inthe digital age: the constraints of the 6-second Vine video and 140-characterTweets are both new. But neither is fun-damentally different from the constraintsof, say, the sonnet. It seems to me thatwhat has changed more substantially isnot just the means themselves, but theincreasingly small number of ways weare willing to allow ourselves to be opento persuasion. In other words, when con-sidering the ideal of eloquentia perfectafor Jesuit educators in the digital age, weought to consider not just how digitaltechnology provides different conduitsEloquentia Perfectain the Digital AgeBy Patrick L. Gilger, S.J.For example, resources within the department could becommitted to an ongoing oral history project. A relativelysmall amount of funding could incentivize a few students toreach out to various groups and communities in the Bostonarea to collect their stories and recollections as they pertainto historical events or developments. From a more strictlyhistory-department point of view, this effort would yield arich resource for future research (similar to the famed WPAslave narratives), and it would furthermore give graduatestudents an expanded opportunity to hone their skills in oralhistory collection. This would also challenge the ivory towerstereotype. Additionally, such a project would encourage students toauthentically engage with the surrounding community andhear the stories and lived experiences of individuals in waysthey might otherwise not have over the course of their stud-ies. By creating new bonds and actively working to preservethe city’s history, a commitment to local history would be anexperience in service that would not only supplement histor-ical training. This sort of project would also be a uniqueanswer to the call for the promotion of justice and the for-mation of women and men for others that is so central to aJesuit education. As I hope to make these proposals concrete actions, itremains to be seen whether they will gain traction within my his-tory world, and I am very prepared that these efforts may notbear any fruit. Either way, I am thankful for the opportunity toexplore this tension between my graduate training and BC’sJesuit identity, as well as for the length of my training, whichgives me time to think of other ideas should these not work! ■Patrick L. Gilger, S.J., is a cofounder ofThe Jesuit Post, a website staffed byJesuits in formation across the UnitedStates; after completing his studies intheology, Father Gilger was ordainedon June 14, 2013.3Staysniak: Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit IdentityPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2013

Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit Identity

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Talking Back: Graduate School and Jesuit Identity

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