THE 1970s - A LOOK BACK: Scholarship (12/30/79)

THE 1970s - A LOOK BACK

Scholarship

Ever mindful of their task to disseminate truth about Ukraine and thus counter the entrenched distortions in the West, as well as the deliberate malignment of Ukraine's history by Soviet scholars on the dictates of the party henchmen, Ukrainians in the free world wrote a glorious chapter in the history of their settlement by forging the establishment of scholarly institutions which found recognition in the non-Ukrainian speaking world.

In addition to the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, West Germany, the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome, the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Free Academy of Arts and Sciences, Ukrainians in the United States, with some salutary assistance from their kin in Canada, established three chairs of Ukrainian studies and a Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, America's oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning.

A project initiated in 1957 by Ukrainian students organized within SUSTA - at that time against the hopes of but a few enthusiasts who later carried on this mission with contagious zeal within the framework of the Ukrainian Studies Chair Fund - it found its initial realization in the establishment of the chair in Ukrainian history, propitiously, on January 22, 1968, the day Ukrainians in the free world observed the 50th anniversary of the re-establishment of Ukrainian statehood. It was the first chair in the history of the United States funded by a community at a cost of $600,000. The first series of lectures was offered by Prof. Alexander Ohloblyn.

What followed was an astoundingly unprecedented input of Ukrainians on the North American continent: with some 8,000 Ukrainians contributing generously - some in five-digit figures - the chairs in Ukrainian literature and language were established on January 22, 1973, again in conjunction with the observances of 55th anniversary of Ukraine's rebirth as a sovereign state. To meet the deadline, the Ukrainian community raised some $800,000 in 1972 in what was a memorable countdown. That total, as well as the $360,000 raised in December of 1972, set records for any period in Ukraine's history. And it was recognized as such by the university's president, Derek Bok, who announced on April 30, 1973, the establishment of the research institute despite the fact that the fund-raising drive for $2 million project was only unraveling. It was also during that weekend that the monumental project bore its first fruits: Dr. Orest Subtelny publicly defended his dissertation to become the first Ph.D. recipient of the Ukrainian studies program at Harvard.

Indeed, the 1970s saw a growing presence of Ukrainian scholarship at Harvard, which heartened and inspired young and old alike. The proliferation of courses, seminars, scholarly conferences, publishing activity, summer schools and other aspects of what was becoming a Ukrainian scholarly fortress was reflected in several milestones: the establishment of a Visiting Committee in 1974, comprised of church and community leaders, for the purpose of periodic reviews and reports on the progress of the Ukrainian studies program; on July 1, 1975, Prof. Omeljan Pritsak, the indomitable architect of the entire project, became the first Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, a first in Ukraine's history; he was also named director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute; on November 12, 1974, the president of Harvard University sent an invitation to Valentyn Moroz and seven other Soviet Ukrainian scholars to join the HURI; the letters were subsequently renewed and in 1979 Mr. Moroz, upon arrival in the United States, was granted the status of a visiting scholar there. In the meantime, the fund drive for the $2 million endowment of the HURI continued, spilling into the 1980s.

A major achievement in itself, the Harvard project started a kind of chain reaction, as scores of American and Canadian Universities began to offer Ukrainian courses, thanks in no small measure to Ukrainian students, while some publishing houses, including Encyclopedia Britannica, have recognized the HURI as the authoritative center on Ukraine and its history.

The ramifications of the Harvard project, coupled with growing strength of the Ukrainian community in Canada and the implementation of the policy of multiculturalism, played a significant role in the growth of Ukrainian scholarship north of the border as well.

On June 18, 1976, the board of governors of the University of Alberta announced the establishment of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, an inter-university institution funded by the federal government with an annual appropriation of $350,000. Prof. Manoly Lupul was named its director.

Reflecting the proliferation of Ukrainian courses at major Canadian institutions of higher learning, the University of Toronto announced on May 28, 1978, the establishment of a chair of Ukrainian studies, providing a grant of $300,000 and thus matching a similar amount raised in the private sector by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and business Federation.

Of no less importance was the breakthrough of bilingual education in the public schools of Alberta, now also tried with success in Manitoba, with the possibility of being implemented in the province of Ontario.

The development of Ukrainian scholarship in the free world would not have been possible without the involvement and commitment of individual academes whose ranks have been swelling over the past decade. This also reflects the strong sense of the value of education that has been a hallmark of the Ukrainian people in the New World. More Ukrainian youths availed themselves of the virtually unlimited educational opportunities, acquiring professions and pursuing careers of distinction. Many of them went into academic profession and did their share in enhancing the true image of Ukrainianism and spreading truth about Ukraine.

Thus, in the realm of scholarship, the 1970s brought many a worthwhile achievement of lasting value for the Ukrainian community, attesting to its vitality, self-sacrifice and perseverance.

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