The Sarmatian Review has initiated an ongoing series of interviews with representatives of the American Polish academic community concerning Polish Studies in the United States. Below we print the comments of three academics: Professor Stanislaus A. Blejwas of Central Connecticut State University, Professor James S. Pula of the Catholic University of America, and Professor Janusz K. Wrobel of St.Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan. Blejwas holds a University Chair in History and is Coordinator of the Polish Studies Program at CCSU. Pula is Professor of History and Dean of the Metropolitan College at the CUA. Wrobel is Associate Professor and Chair of Polish at St.Mary's College.
1. What in your opinion are the greatest
achievements of the American Polish community in regard to Polish Studies?
2. What are its greatest failures?
3. In your opinion, is the scarcity of attention paid to Polish and east
central European affairs by the US Congress due partly to the lack of financial
and intellectual clout which the American Polish community possesses but has
not been able to mobilize?
4. In your opinion, is the slimness of Polish Studies in America due partly to
the inability or unwillingness of Polish scholars to sacrifice their own
personal interests (e.g., the desire not to teach more courses per semester than
do their colleagues in Russian) to enlarge Polish offerings at American
universities?
5. Is deliberate discrimination of Polish Studies by the university
administration ever a factor in limiting Polish offerings at American
universities?
6. Is stereotyping of Polish children at American primary and secondary schools
ever a problem in making their parents unwilling to bring them up aware of
their Polish roots?
7. If so, does this stereotyping affect the children of college-educated
parents less than the children of parents with only primary or secondary
education?
8. Do you perceive a lack of cooperation between Polish-born and native-born
Americans? Are these two groups kept apart by perhaps well-meaning but
erroneous calculations of some persons active in American Polish affairs,
locally or nationwide?
Professor
Blejwas: 1-2. Questions 1 and 2 are
formulated without clarifying what is meant by the American Polish community.
The questions appear designed to evoke negative responses. Furthermore, it is assumed
a priori that such programs are
necessary and justifiable and that it is the American Polish community's
obligation to financially underwrite them. The American Polish community can
contribute politically and economically to the development of Polish Studies in
America, especially if it believes, as I do, that there should be a Polish
presence in American higher education. However, no one is obligated to do so.
If American Poles choose not to underwrite Polish Studies, they ought not be
excoriated by emigre nationals for failing to fulfill some vaguely defined
’Äúnational obligation.’Äù When the American Polish community is criticized for not
underwriting Polish Studies programs, one often feels that they are being
rebuked for not establishing sinecures for Polish-educated and emigre
academicians.
To turn
specifically to Question 1, it can be argued that the greatest achievements are
not as numerous as one would wish, nor have some of them survived. The
important Jurzykowski Chair at Harvard is not an American Polish initiative,
nor is the well known Indiana University Program, which relies upon federal
funds and is looking for a private American Polish benefactor to endow the
Program's future. The Orchard Lake Schools, the now-defunct Alliance College as
well as the colleges established by the Roman Catholic Orders are community
achievements, but it is difficult to argue that they established a major
bridgehead in American higher education for Polish Studies.
Czeslaw Milosz believes that there is discrimination
of Polish Studies by university administrations and by Slavic departments.
There is no reason to doubt his assessment. But . . . the market drives
universities, and enrollment will drive Polish Studies programs.
Three current
community initiatives show promise of achieving a permanent Polish presence at
their universities: the Copernicus Chair at the University of Michigan, the
Polish Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the Polish Studies
Program at Central Connecticut State University. The Copernicus Chair would
establish Polish Studies at a major American university, while the Milwaukee
Program possesses a large faculty base. The CCSU Program, established because
of lobbying by the Connecticut District of the Polish American Congress, is
twenty years old, and has collected nearly $500,000 in Program Endowment.
Polish Studies
Programs, or at at least a Polish presence in the curriculum, ought to exist at
every level of American higher education. There are diverse educational strategies
to be considered. Endowed chairs at major universities and colleges are a
priority. However, there are also universities and colleges with a strong
American Polish demographic base, where a Polish presence in the curriculum
(and within the framework of a Slavic Studies major) is important. The
relationship of Polish Studies to the curriculum ought to be considered. Do
separate programs risk isolating Polish studies intellectually? Third, the
debate ought to consider whether every Polish studies initiative must grant a
degree, certificate, or diploma. What about the student (of Polish origin or
not) who only wants an introduction to Polish culture and heritage? He/she does
not need to attend a school with a full-fledged Polish Studies program, but requires
an institution where courses are available in the curriculum.
In responding to
Question 2, it might be argued that the failure to establish a national
strategy for Polish Studies is the great failure of the American Polish
community. Could the leading Polish American social, cultural, and economic
organizations have agreed upon a priority list - based in part upon
considerations of academic prestige, demography, and geography - of institutions
of higher education where Polish Studies programs ought to have been
established? When a furious discussion was going on over the Adam Mickiewicz
Chair of Polish Studies at Columbia University in 1948-1954, the PAC talked of
funding Polish chairs at other universities. These goals were not realized.
It may be time to
convoke a summit of academicians, business and community leaders, perhaps under
the sponsorship of the Kosciuszko Foundation, to see if a realistic, achievable
national strategy might be devised.
The Canadian
Polish Congress is funding a Polish chair at the University of Toronto. Could
the Polish American fraternals and prominent American Poles draw up a list of
schools where Polish Studies should be established and funded over a period of
years according to an agreed upon schedule.
3. The United
States Congress is called upon to attend to every world problem, and in the
1980s it certainly paid attention to east European developments. That attention
span could be extended if academicians made themselves available to work or
consult with the community's sole Washington lobby, the PAC. Academicians
traditionally prefer to maintain their distance from ethnic lobbies, perhaps
fearing that their colleagues might call into question their objectivity.
Additionally, it does take time away from research and writing. It is not a
question that the American Polish community has not been able to mobilize this
resource. It is the academicians who appear unwilling to get involved. And it
may not only be a question of sacrificing one's time. There are serious
questions of bias and prejudicial stereotypes entertained by many academicians
about the American Polish community.
4-5. These can be
answered together. The ideal is to have a Polish presence in every American
college and university. The reality is that university administration look for
outside sources to underwrite "specialized" programs. Czeslaw Milosz
believes that there is discrimination of Polish Studies by university
administrations and by Slavic departments. There is no reason to doubt his
assessment. On the other hand, it is unlikely that this is the case at every
institution. The market drives universities, and enrollment will drive Polish
Studies programs. In this context, interested faculty must be willing to put
their assumptions and prejudices aside and become involved in fund raising.
Chairs and program endowments do provide relief from enrollment-driven
pressures.
6. The accepted
wisdom is that stereotyping discourages identification with one's ethnic roots.
But it can also provoke a counteraction, witness the rising interest in black
and Hispanic studies.
7. My guess is
that stereotyping at school affects children of college-educated parents less.
8. What do you
mean by ’Äúlack of cooperation?’Äù In what areas? Who is keeping apart from whom?
It is not that I do not understand the question; I have not encountered the
problem.
Professor Pula: 1. If we define ’ÄúPolish Studies’Äù broadly to include
any activities designed to promote the study of Polish history and culture,
then the "greatest achievements" are no doubt the existence of
institutions such as the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Polish Institute of Arts
and Sciences, the Polish American Historical Association, the several Polish
Studies programs at institutions of higher education and the various local
Polish cultural organizations, all of which support continuous programs
designed to educate people about Polish and Polish American heritage. These
formal institutions make lasting contributions to research, the dissemination
of information, and the preservation of materials without which any sense of
Polish heritage would be either lost or relegated to the confines of
antiquarianism.
Under Secretary Riley's new policy on ’Äúminority
scholarships,’Äù a Polish American who wishes to create a scholarship program for
students of Polish heritage may be prevented from doing so because it would
discriminate against federally recognized and sanctioned ’Äúminority groups’Äù . .
. . the federal courts have consistently refused to apply anti-discrimination
statutes on the basis of national origin.
2. The greatest
failure of the Polish American community is its general lack of support for
efforts such as those mentioned above. The major Polish American fraternals do
little on the national level to support Polish studies at colleges or
universities, places where serious research and writing occur and where the
study of Polish history and culture can be sanctioned as a legitimate activity.
The Polish American community ranks low in its willingness to purchase books on
Polish heritage, or to support Polish studies through the establishment of
college-level programs, scholarships, or other incentives for young people. Of
all the Polish cultural clubs in the United States, less than three dozen
belong to the umbrella American Council for Polish Culture, and recent data
indicate that only one in twenty Polish Americans belongs to any kind of Polish American organization. The success of
other groups in obtaining the creation of culture-specific programs at major
universities has not been at all mirrored by the Polish American community,
which seems content to see its tax dollars used to support other groups.
Certainly the lack of substantial Polish studies programs in traditional Polish
areas such as Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland and New York is nothing
short of scandalous. But, if they are not demanded by the general public they
will not be established.
3. In a word, yes.
Aside from occasional ’Äúnational’Äù or ’Äúregional’Äù meetings to deplore the status
of Polish studies in America, the leading Polish American organizations have
done little to create an atmosphere in which Polonia can speak with a united,
or even an audible voice. While other groups lobby effectively for public tax
dollars to establish research centers, cultural programs, and endowed chairs at
colleges and universities - programs that are important not only for their
contributions to knowledge, but for the legitimization that they provide to
Polish-oriented intellectual activities - Polish American groups appear content
with an occasional photo opportunity, a campaign-year speech, or the
appointment of a "leader" as an alternate delegate to a national
committee. A centralized lobbying office in Washington, DC, supported by state
offices in areas where Polish Americans constitute a significant proportion of
the population, is essential if Polonia is ever to demand its rightful share of
its own tax dollars. Similarly, to attract the support of Polish Americans,
organized Polonia must refocus its efforts more toward the political concerns
of Polish Americans and away from its sometimes exclusive focus on short term
aid to Poland.
For example,
Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley recently announced a new policy
regarding ’Äúminority’Äù scholarship programs. Under the new policy, colleges and
universities will run the risk of violating federal anti-discrimination laws if
they offer ethnic-specific scholarships unless they can demonstrate that the
scholarships are designed to "remedy past discrimination" or
"achieve a diverse student population" (’ÄúRiley Issues Policy on
Minority Scholarships,’Äù Higher Education and National Affairs, 21 February 1994, p. 1). Although the criteria cover
both race and national origin, in practice the federal courts have consistently
refused to apply anti-discrimination statutes on the basis of national origin.
Thus, the new policy may well mean that a Polish American who wishes to create
a scholarship program for students of Polish heritage will be prevented from
doing so because it would discriminate against federally recognized and
sanctioned "minority groups." Organized Polonia should take the lead
in opposing this biased policy, but thus far there has been a startling lack of
concern. If organized Polonia does not stand up for the rights of its members,
who will?
4. One cannot make
a broad generalization that encompasses everyone. In some cases the
unwillingness of individual professors to actively promote and develop existing
Polish Studies programs has led to their reduction or outright cancellation. In
many other cases, enterprising faculty have been very effective in creating and
building programs. As indicated above, I believe that one of the major problems
is that Polonia and its leaders have not demanded equal access to public funds.
If the major state university systems, using public funds, can create
ethnic-oriented studies programs for some groups, why cannot the same be done
for Polish Americans? The answer is that Polonia has not organized and focused
its political potential to accomplish this end. Individual faculty cannot
generally ’Äúdemand’Äù increased funds or the freedom to offer additional Polish
studies courses. An atmosphere must be created where the appropriate political
figures and university administrators feel that it is in their best interest to
do so. This can only come from organized lobbying efforts.
5. I do not
believe there is any nationwide conspiracy to discriminate against Polish
Studies. There is however a general feeling that there is no great demand for
these courses, and often one hears voiced the sentiment that faculty engaged in
Polish studies are in too narrow a field. This remark would not be made about
those in Women's Studies, African-American Studies, Irish Studies, or other
such programs because there are active lobbies and professional groups that
support, encourage, and even demand these programs. Rather than take the easy
route of ascribing the lack of Polish Studies programs to discrimination,
Polonia and its leaders need to take the more difficult proactive path of
insisting on the creation and support of these programs, and then supporting
the programs themselves.
6. People may
react in various ways to perceived discrimination. One effect might be to cause
people to conceal or ignore their Polish heritage. Another result might be to
develop sufficient concern that people are willing to speak out and demand an
end to discrimination.
7. Rather than
offering unsupported opinions, I would like to suggest that this question would
make an excellent topic for a graduate student to explore. What is needed is
accurate statistical evidence as a basis for legitimate conclusions.
8. On the basis of
my observations of the none-too-frequent interaction of Polish-born and
American-born Polish Americans, I would say that the difficulties are born of
traditional struggles for recognition and control. Each group holds
preconceived expectations of the other, and when these expectations are not
fulfilled each becomes at the least disappointed and at the worst antagonistic.
What is needed on both sides is an understanding that not everyone may have the
same specific needs or wish to contribute in the same way to the same causes,
but overall it is beneficial for organized Polonia to develop goals that will
allow everyone to participate equally in setting agendas and contributing to
the general welfare of the Polish American community.
Professor
Wrobel: 1. Given the circumstances,
the very existence of Polish Studies in the United States can be considered an
achievement. However, neither the size nor the number of Polish Studies centers
reflects the size and strength of the American Polish community. It appears to
me that the best job in Polish studies is being done outside academia, in
schools of Polish language for children and in Polish scouting organizations
(ZHP).
Parents seldom encourage their children to take
Polish courses, believing that other courses are either more needed or more
marketable.
2. The most disadvantageous problem for Polish Studies
is that they are part of departments dominated by Russian or German Studies.
Within Slavic Studies, Polish presence is marginal, as witnessed at conferences
dealing with Slavic topics. Three factors seem to be of relevance here: (1) A
lack of significant financial and "moral" support from both the old
and new Polonia; by "moral," I mean a lack of audience for Polish
studies in Polonia circles, a lack of book buyers, a lack of those attending
lectures etc. Most recent Polish immigrants (the new Polonia) are focused
almost exclusively on assimilating themselves into the new environment. The old
Polonia are sometimes unable to shift interest from folklore to serious
intellectual matters related to Polish identity. (2) The negative stereotypes
of the Polish people do not help to attract audiences in broader society. (3)
In 1939’Äì1989, Poland was an occupied country, and Polish history was
accordingly seen, and presented to Americans, through the eyes of the conquerors.
This did not create favorable conditions for interest in Polish affairs.
Solidarity was the first major positive event in Polish history of the last 60
years. It attracted tremendous interest worldwide, and it created a great deal
of good will toward Poland. This is valuable capital to build upon, and it
should be handled with respect and care.
3. I agree that
the American Polish community does not lack either financial or intellectual
strength. I also agree with the opinion that Polish Americans have not yet been
able to utilize their potential strength.
4-7. I do not have
sufficient evidence of deliberate discrimination of Polish Studies by
university administrators to venture an opinion. If the courses in Polish
Studies attracted more students than is the case now, the area would be
strengthened. A limited number of students of Polish background who take Polish
Studies courses is related to the attitude of parents. My experience indicates
that parents seldom encourage their children to take Polish courses, believing
that other courses are either more needed or more marketable. Only half of my
fourteen students who major or minor in Polish at St. Mary's are of Polish
origin.
It seems to me
that the major reason for the students' reluctance to take, or to ask for,
Polish courses is their parents' refusal to acknowledge their Polish roots
while assimilating in American society. I do not think that negative
stereotyping which Polish Americans sometimes have to face in school is an
important factor, especially in the case of children of college-educated
parents.
8. The Orchard Lake Schools were established by Polish Americans, and they provide a good example of cooperation between the old and new Polonia. However, in a number of Polish American organizations such cooperation is not always apparent. Resentment against the new Polonia on the part of the old is sometimes caused by the latter's difficult and painful experiences at the beginning of their American life. Sometimes it appears that they would like for the better-educated new Polonia to go through the same hardships. A distrust of Poles raised in Soviet-occupied Poland is another factor.
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