I wish we had a divinity school. A doctorate of theology from Hopkins would be, as far as I am concerned, a surreal and wonderful thing. If I ever wind up with several gazillion undeserved dollars, I promise to endow one. In the meantime (read: reality), the University has just received a $50 million gift to create schools for business and education. They're not theology, but these schools will do a lot of good for Hopkins and for Baltimore.
That is, of course, if they can get going effectively and last in two fairly crowded educational fields. In the past, Hopkins has had a few bad experiences with interesting schools and programs going under. In 1928 we started a Law Institute for the purpose of studying the effects and effectiveness of laws from a social sciences perspective, specifically those of economics and sociology. It was an innovative idea, but then the Depression happened and funding dried up, so a few years later it closed down.
Then there was our first school of international relations, the Page School, located right here at Homewood. The Page School started in 1938, and was headed by Owen Lattimore, who was a big name in Central and East Asian studies at the time. However, in 1950 he was accused by Senator McCarthy of being a pinko, and that was all she wrote. This is also why Hopkins acquired the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. that same year.
Conscientious of these past failures, the University has given some thought to the question of how to make sure these new schools succeed. This is especially important when starting a business school, a field where networking and prestige are such overriding concerns. According to an article in Business Week, Hopkins intends to develop the new school by focusing on two things. First, it will be geared toward students coming directly out of college instead of those with several years of work experience, as most business schools currently do. Second, we will be leveraging Hopkins' medical primacy. As Business Week notes, many business schools are trying to develop programs geared specifically toward health care issues. Even if our MBA is not yet established, a Hopkins degree will still mean a lot in this field.
This is a good approach, but we should not lose sight of some other important goals as well. A major benefit of these expansions should be to cultivate Hopkins' profile as a school that specializes in a lot more than medicine. These aspects of the University deserve every bit of the attention they are given; Hopkins isn't the best hospital in the world for nothing. However, we are also exceptional in a number of other fields including physics, political theory, Near Eastern studies and English. One of the main benefits of having schools for business and education would be to show that Hopkins does a lot more than just medicine. Since our most famous alumnus today is Michael Bloomberg, this should already be apparent, but the stereotype remains, and the school must continue to work toward changing it.
I have high hopes that these programs will be beneficial to both Hopkins and the city of Baltimore. In order to compete nationally, and particularly in the crowded east coast, Baltimore needs fixed assets to attract businesses. The Inner Harbor is still the most important of these, but after that Hopkins is probably the number one reason for businesses and professionals to go to Baltimore. A Hopkins business school will provide a supply of homegrown entrepreneurs and managers to help develop commerce in the city. Also, an education school will increase Hopkins' involvement in Baltimore, and bring more socially conscious people into the University system.
Improving Baltimore will improve Hopkins as well. One need only consider how the urban renaissance in New York has turned NYU into one of the hottest schools in the nation to realize how vital a University's hometown can be. As long as Baltimore is viewed primarily as the city where The Wire and Homicide were filmed, it will continue to limit the appeal of Hopkins for legions of potential students. Baltimore and Hopkins are mutually dependent, and schools for business and education will be beneficial to both.
Plus, business schools provide lots of rich alumni. If I don't strike it rich, hopefully we can convince them to endow the divinity school.
--Vijay Phulwani is a senior political science and ancient law major from Johnstown, Pa.
