Alumni Spotlight
Bruce Stanley '73
Q & A with Bruce Stanley ’73
Bruce Stanley '73 in Jordan.
Looking toward the first session of the re-launched program, what excites you?
Everything about it is exciting: getting Jordanians excited about what our students can offer and learn; thinking about how the courses will intermesh with the various trips and visits; building a collection of materials, videos and documents for our participants as a preliminary to their arrival so they will have a good grounding before they step off the plane.
What challenges do you anticipate as this program begins?
Three early challenges stand out, in no particular order. One is the challenge of expectations. Many people in Amman know of Earlham and its long history of offering students a chance to engage with the Middle East. They know of the broader Quaker 150-year contribution to peace in the region. We are re-launching this program in a context of this legacy of value, impact, relevance and insight, and lots of people in the region expect us to immediately make this program like "it used to be." I've already heard this dozens of times in Amman. We have a legacy of Tony Bing, Lincoln Blake, Landrum Bolling to follow, and so we have large boots to fill.
A second is meeting the challenge of security and safety. Parents, students and the College expect, rightly so, a particular attention to safety and risk management. There are no guarantees in the modern world about risk, but the challenge for me and the International Programs Office is to anticipate risks to a high standard, adjust the program and our day-to-day choices in response to the risks of study abroad, and to manage risk so that the experience is as fulfilling as possible. We already have a strong network in place of knowledgeable local experts and "friends of Earlham" to give us the local feedback necessary to anticipate developments, and to provide advice. We also have introduced procedures and policies to the program to give us better contacts with students as they go about the city.
A third challenge is to make this a program that is as "in touch" with the people of Jordan as possible. Too many study abroad programs are actually superficial, and simply place students in pre-established courses in the local environment without helping to create opportunities for real engagement. Our goal with this program is to uniquely engage with civil society in Jordan and the way institutions in the community are shaping their own future. This is where the transformation of the Middle East is actually happening, and where the forces for change are being shaped. We want this opportunity to help our students touch this deeper reality.
You attended Earlham’s program in the Middle East (administered by the GLCA) as a student during the 1971-1972 academic year. What are your most vivid memories of that experience?
One key memory was that there were students on our program from colleges other than Earlham who made no attempt to learn anything about the Middle East while we were in Beirut. They did not engage with the local community, did not apply themselves to learn anything about the region, were not actively engaged with their own learning. A number of these students spent the time drinking their way through the bars in the city. Such a waste of time and effort…. I hope that I can engage students so that the experience for them, and for the local community, is a very positive and empowering one. In a related insight, as a specialist on the Middle East, I regret not taking every opportunity available that year to interview and talk to key figures from the 1940s and 1950s — crucial transformation years for the Middle East — who were living in Beirut at the time. Lost opportunities, even though I believe I soaked it all up like a sponge while I was there.
You were a faculty leader for Earlham’s Jerusalem program in 1990. What will be similar about this new program, and what will be different?
One significant difference is the nature of local perceptions of American power. The 1990 program took place during the lead-up to [the first Gulf War], so we didn’t really know the extent to which U.S. military power and diplomacy [would] shape the global system and regional events of the time. Subsequently we have had 9/11, Afghanistan, the second 2003 Iraq conflict and Abu Ghraib. America in 1990 was still both loved and hated in the region, and our students in Jerusalem came to understand the subtleties of those attitudes very well. Now the attitude toward American power in the region has significantly shifted, and American students need to understand how this shift has happened, and what it means for the future of American policy in the region. One crucial role of study-abroad is to allow us to see ourselves through the eyes of others, and to try to understand how those perceptions have been created. Then we can set about working to modify those perceptions.
There will be lots of similarities: the warmth of the people of the Middle East and their tremendous hospitality; the thrill of learning about "the other," especially a community like Muslims who are so demonized and misrepresented in our media; the joy of those little moments of "wow" when you see Petra or float in the Dead Sea. I can’t wait to hear about such moments from our students….
Some other Earlhamites are assisting you with the re-launch. Tell us a little about their involvement.
Earlham students who have participated recently in non-Earlham study abroad in Amman or the Middle East are providing valuable recommendations as to logistics, and lots of "what not to do" or "definitely do this" advice. Parents of Earlham graduates who live in Amman, and they are ready and willing to provide contacts and advice. There are also Earlham graduates living in Palestine or Jordan who have said they are willing to help. Interestingly, Khulood Kittaneh, who will be teaching Arabic for us in Amman, spent a year at Earlham during 2004-2005. She is one of our greatest supporters in Amman.
In your view, why is it so important that Earlham have an off-campus program in the Middle East?
Three reasons. First, we know how a lack of understanding of the Middle East can contribute to poor policy decisions by political leaders. Sponsoring a program for undergraduates in this particular region makes a small but long-term indirect contribution toward improving relations between the rest of the world and the people of the Middle East. Given the centrality of Middle East political, social and economic dynamics in current global relations, institutions of higher education have a responsibility to expose their students to this region. Second, given the type of students that attend Earlham, there is a long-term direct contribution to Middle East-American relations through the subsequent activities of those who participate in this program. Over the years, hundreds of graduates of Earlham programs in the Middle East have actively helped shape a more nuanced and insightful understanding of the Middle East in the corners where they end up. Finally, Earlham students are excellent connectors, and they build personal relationships in places like the Middle East where there remains much mistrust and fear of the other. By listening, learning, and serving, Earlham students help repair attitudes of Middle Easterners one person at a time.
Can you share a favorite memory from your Earlham student days?
Arthur Little demonstrating to us how to jump around like a jester while preparing us for our parts in Hamlet… Lynn Clapham reading directly from the Hebrew to tell us about the similarities between the myths in Genesis and those in the ancient Sumerian texts… Tony Bing expecting me to know all about the early ethnic cleansing of the 1948-1951 Israeli take-over of Palestinian villages… Jack Bailey getting us to do better on the volleyball court… Evan Farber teaching us to make better use of the library in our research… how much time do you have?
What is something your Earlham classmates would be surprised to know about you?
I was Robin Hood at Big May Day in 1973. Now that I live in London and carry a British passport, I can admit that Morris Dancing STILL does not float my boat, and I avoid it in Britain whenever possible, although some of my fellow May Day participants loved it. And running around in tights and living in the rain in a forest is NOT as much fun for me as catching a play in the West End followed by wine on the South Bank of the Thames. I still like the idea of taking from the City bankers to give to the poor bit, though….
— Jonathan Graham
Earlhamite Editor
(Posted August 28, 2009)
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Page updated: August 30, 2009