THE ISSUE: Entrepreneurship has been a hot topic both on campus and within the editorial board. Many see it as college students being creative, while others see it as an attack on the ideas of liberal arts through privatization on campus. In this viewpoint, two editorial board members argue for each side. You can read the other argument here.
Entrepreneurship and the liberal arts benefit from cross-disciplinary collaboration. Entrepreneurship is an innovative mindset — it’s a way to solve problems, not necessarily make a profit.
Last summer, I studied health disparities in rural Georgia. Over the course of those sweaty months, I drew on knowledge of public policy and southern culture, as well as training in public health entrepreneurship, to make sense of the experience and help develop health interventions. My courses in the liberal arts and in entrepreneurship gave me the diverse toolbox I needed to tackle these complex problems.
Students want to be change-makers, and entrepreneurship appeals to us as a mindset geared toward taking action.
But knowledge of history, social movements, literature and culture also equip us to think critically and creatively about problem-solving and how to interact respectfully in the world.
Stereotypes about entrepreneurs abound: they’re all about making money (the capitalist in the suit) or they’re too cool for school (the Silicon Valley hipster). But lots of entrepreneurs are researchers, writers and scholars.
Exposure to entrepreneurial thinking benefits students of all majors. There is no entrepreneurship major in the College of Arts and Sciences — the minor purposely aims to complement other studies.
From the economics major who finds a new way to decrease food waste, to the environmental studies major who starts a community garden — these are all examples of entrepreneurial thinking.
There are undeniable financial pressures being placed on our university. It’s is easy to feel the push to innovate as part of a larger movement to privatize the university or make ends meet. But really, it’s not the entrepreneurial spirit that’s the problem. Let’s protect the real definition of innovation and use it to tackle systemic issues. Maybe we can start by innovating new ways to get out the vote and elect politicians who value our university’s mission!
