When I was in high school, I took a course at the local college in oral communications. Most colleges and universities actually require their students to take one. I was surprised to find that at Dartmouth, not only was such a class not required, but there were only a few available. I took Public Advocacy (Speech 22) last year and loved it. It piqued my interest in both the theoretical and practical aspects of rhetoric.
It is important to the intellectual life of Dartmouth that we expand the Office of Speech. Presumably, we are at a liberal arts school so that we can delve into a wider breadth of knowledge instead of solely focusing on specific career fields. The study of rhetoric is a valuable pursuit which is integral to the liberal arts.
As Robert L. Ivie and John Louis Lucaites of Indiana University note: "No other discipline concerns itself so essentially and centrally with investigating the strategies of influence in human discourse ..." Not only is the study of speech beneficial in and of itself, but it is also beneficial because it is applicable in practically every pursuit which lies ahead of us. Effective communication is needed in job presentations, managerial decisions and even for one's personal life.
We have always been a unique institution in the Ivy League. Dartmouth is the only Ivy League school with an office of speech. We now have the opportunity to capitalize on that advantage.
We need to expand the office of speech so that existing courses are available to more students and so that higher level courses can be offered. There is a considerable demand for speech courses; as many students are admitted to these limited enrollment classes as are turned away.
Demand for higher level speech courses can be seen in the level of interest for the newly created Speech 27 course, "Criticism of American Public Address." In the first term it was offered, the course not only filled up, but several students were also turned away.
It pleases me to hear from Professor Jim Kuypers, the only professor in the Office of Speech, that the deans are considering the state of the office right now. The courses we have are excellent, but demand is high, and current supply is not able to meet it. We should offer existing courses more often and offer a wider range of higher level courses.
Rhetoric has been taught for centuries, all the way back to Aristotle. It is important today for a liberal arts education. In order to continue to produce the kind of students Dartmouth has been known for, maybe we should reflect on the words of one of our greatest alumni, Daniel Webster, who remarked: "If all my talents and powers were to be taken from me by some inscrutable Providence, and I had my choice of keeping but one, I would unhesitatingly ask to be allowed to keep the Power of Speaking, for through it, I would quickly recover all the rest."
