To The Editor,
Professor Frederick Schweitzer’s eloquent letter (February 19, 2024) is a cry from the heart of one who has contributed greatly to the academic excellence of Manhattan College and most particularly to the history department. I share his dismay. I, too, am shocked by the unjustified attack on the loyal, hardworking faculty of the College and the deliberate weakening of the liberal arts, particularly the history department. Financial difficulties come and go. They can be solved
with enlightened leadership, good judgment and hard work. A disheartened, weakened faculty is much harder to salvage.

I am the niece of Brother Casimir Gabriel Costello, or Cas Gabe, the person to whom Professor Schweitzer refers in his letter. Cas Gabe hired the brilliant young Fred Schweitzer in 1958. My uncle always claimed that it was one of his best actions during his chairmanship of the history department, when he also served as dean of the college. Cas Gabe deeply loved history as an academic discipline, a love that was perhaps secondary only to his love for Manhattan College and the Christian Brothers. My uncle frequently told us during Sunday night dinners at our home that
the liberal arts formed the beating heart of a good education. He took great pride in knowing that the engineers, the finance majors, as well as the liberal arts majors graduated as well-educated people, the kind who would have the resources of their learning from which to develop wisdom in their professional and personal lives. He was obsessive on that point: the liberal arts must lie at the center of Manhattan College’s educational mission.

What are we to make of this deliberate attack against the liberal arts? How can the history department be cut in half? History is not a trivial indulgence. It’s one of the most important subjects to be taught to the young. We cannot hope to shape the future in more positive directions unless we understand the past. The most egregious problem, however, is the attack on tenured faculty. No school, college or
university can thrive if it shows disrespect and contempt towards its faculty. Why would teachers devote their time, their intellect and their passion to an institution that does not value them? How will the best candidates be recruited in the future? For sure, those who have not yet been given notice of termination must be very nervous about their futures. If a brilliant, devoted, tenured teacher like Jeff Horn, the most senior faculty member in the history department, can be axed, no one is safe.

My husband and I fund the annual Costello Lecture, initiated by Roger Goebel, a Manhattan alumnus who told me that he grew to love history because of my uncle’s class on the French Revolution. Roger, who was the founder of the Center on European Union Law at Fordham University, has passed on, but we decided to continue funding this lecture. We also fund the Costello Excellence in Teaching award, granted annually to the teacher in the Liberal Arts who has garnered the most votes from his or her students. All of this is a result of our affection for Manhattan College and our belief in the profoundly transformative power of the liberal arts. What should we do now? What is Manhattan College’s future after the dismantling of the liberal arts and this attack on tenured faculty?

Sincerely,
Patricia Stack