March 19, 2001
Humanities endowment chairman visits UCSC, outlines plan to create regional centers
By Louise Donahue
Securing federal funding for the humanities is no mean feat in Washington, but William
Ferris seems to relish the challenge.
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| William Ferris (center), chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is joined by Pedro Castillo (right), associate professor of history, and Mark Slobin, research associate in music, on the way to a reception at UCSC. Photo: Louise Donahue |
Taking part in a roundtable discussion with UCSC faculty at Stevenson College on Monday (March 12), Ferris said he would like to see a national commitment to the humanities on a par with that for the sciences, and representation for the humanities at the Cabinet level. Asked if he was being unrealistic, Ferris vowed to persevere. "It's like an ocean liner; it takes a while to turn it around."
One way the NEH chairman has tried to increase support for the endowment is by raising its profile. "The humanities are a puzzle to most Americans," he said, quoting a line from the movie Cool Hand Luke to explain the problem: "What we have here is a failure to communicate."
Ferris told the group of his success answering the question he most often hears from lawmakers: "What are you doing for my people back home?" He said NEH support for small-town libraries and online encyclopedias focusing on individual states has made supporters of such former NEH opponents as Sen. Jesse Helms of South Carolina and Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas.
"You don't teach Congress. You listen and respond," he said. While the agency has long enjoyed support among Democrats, Ferris said the NEH needs to build bridges, especially to Republicans in Congress.
The NEH, the nation's largest source of funding for the humanities, had its congressional budget cut by more than a third in 1995, from $172 million to $110 million. When Ferris was confirmed in 1997, congressional funding was still $110 million. The last two annual budgets have included increases of $5 million each, bringing the current total up to $120 million. President Bush's preliminary budget plan calls for flat funding of the agency, however.
"We have to stretch the dollar--the penny--as far as possible," Ferris noted, pointing out that partnerships with other funding sources have also been helpful.
Ferris was visiting UCSC to see how his agency can better fund UCSC research and activities. He planned to make a similar pitch at UC Berkeley.
One of Ferris's initiatives, designed to improve the agency's geographical reach, is the creation of 10 regional humanities centers. San Francisco State University and UC Davis have been given $50,000 as "seed money" to plan centers for the western region, including Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and California. There will be an additional allocation this fall when one center in each region is chosen.
Closer to home, Ferris also had high praise for NEH-funded summer institutes and summer seminars, which at UCSC have been directed by philosophy professor David Hoy and history professor Edmund "Terry" Burke III. Each session, attended by secondary-school teachers or university teachers, is completely funded by the NEH. Ferris noted the "multiplier effect" these sessions have, as teachers carry back to their home campuses and schools what they have learned.
Literature professor Carla Freccero and others asked Ferris about perceptions that the NEH favors popular work over academic research or controversy. "That split is always there," said Freccero.
Ferris views the NEH's mandate as a populist one. "It clearly says the humanities are for all the people," but there is room for both Ken Burns documentaries and academic research, Ferris said. "I think we can have our cake and eat it, too."
Ferris had earlier described research as "the kernel of what we think of as the food chain of the humanities." He noted that some of what the NEH does, such as providing access to wide-ranging information on its web site, serves both public and academic needs.
Ferris was introduced by Pedro Castillo, an associate professor of history at UCSC who was appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by President Clinton. The 26-member council is an advisory body to the chair.
In addition to his talk, Ferris gave the group a taste of his own research, as he briefly broke into an impressive rendition of the blues song, "Baby, Please Don't Go." "I've had a lot of requests today, and I decided to sing anyway," he joked.
Before coming to the NEH, Ferris was founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. His scholarship covers folklore, American literature, music, and photography. He also hosted a blues music program on Mississippi Public Radio for almost a decade.
Ferris would like to stay on for a second term as NEH chairman to complete projects such as the online encyclopedias and regional humanities centers. Both of Mississippi's Republican senators, Thad Cochran and majority leader Trent Lott, have urged that he not be replaced by President Bush, as often happens with the coming of a new administration.
