Educating for Liberty (Kimberly Shankman’s Remarks)
Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, dedicated its new Independence Hall library on Sept. 26, 2026. Brief remarks at the event included Benedictine College Provost and Dean of the College Dr. Kimberly Shankman. President Stephen D. Minnis introduced her this way:
“Because a library is an important symbol in a university’s commitment to academic excellence, it is my pleasure to introduce the Provost and Academic Dean of the College, Dr. Kimberly Shankman. Dean Shankman has been here for nearly 25 years and has overseen the expansion of our academic programs and a dramatic increase in our academic reputation. The completion of this new library will add even more to that reputation. To tell us more about the importance of the library to the success of an academic institution, please welcome Provost and Dean of the College, Dr. Kimberly Shankman.”
For links to other remarks, read: College Dedicates Independence Hall Library With Justice Barrett
To see the entire event, watch: Benedictine College Library Dedication | Ft. Justice Amy Coney Barrett
Dr. Shankman’s remarks follow.
Thank you for joining us today as we dedicate this beautiful new library which both incorporates the key principles of our mission to educate within a community of faith and scholarship and reflects our vision to apply that mission to the world by equipping our students to transform culture in America.
The design of this building constantly reminds students of the distinctive mission. The artwork and statuary which adorn the building help remind them that the Catholic church stewards the greatest artistic and intellectual heritage in the history of the world. By immersing themselves in it, our students emerge better able to respond to the challenges that will face them — challenges that we can’t even imagine today, but that nevertheless are rooted in the fundamental aspects of human nature that a liberal arts education explores in such depth.
The word “liberal” in liberal arts comes from the word “liberty” — a liberal arts education is designed to equip a person for freedom. But one clear lesson of human history is that freedom is hard. People have been trying, for thousands of years, to develop ways to safeguard individual liberty while providing for the welfare of the community, and throughout most of history, they have failed.
That is why, in 1789, Alexander Hamilton wrote “it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice.” The Founders drew on centuries of scholarship to help fashion our constitution. That is why we have incorporated the Center for Constitutional Liberty into the library.
Here we will tell the almost-forgotten story of the relationship between the principles of American government and the Catholic intellectual tradition. The replica Assembly Room provides a locus of civic education, to pass on to future generations the great—but fragile–heritage of liberty that we as a people have been blessed with.
If you walk through this library, you can feel how perfectly it captures the distinctiveness of our mission. The students congregating in the coffee shop or reading quietly in the main reading room while in the presence of dramatic portraits of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica are preparing themselves, by being immersed in the mission, to take it with them when they leave. By forming them, the mission creates people who can Transform Culture in America. We are so grateful to all who made this possible, and so excited to welcome everyone to enjoy the benefits of this amazing library.
Dear Reader,
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