[Vision2020] A Great Dream Unfulfilled: The Martin Institute at 30

[Ted Moffett]

Thanks for this account of the history of the Martin Institute... I have
heard of it, but knew very little about it.  It is sad to read that this
effort has not been more promoted and funded, and apparently managed by some
who did not respect the ideals involved.

I trust you don't mind placing this web link to your CURRICULUM VITAE
here... It has information regarding your work with the Martin Institute,
along with listing your numerous academic publications:

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/vitanick.html
------------------------------------------

Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett


On 11/3/09, Gier, Nicholas <NGIER at uidaho.edu> wrote:
>
>  Greetings:
>
> I've been wanting to write this column for a long time, and the 30th
> Anniversary of the Martin Institute was just the occasion I needed.
>
> It's a shame that even members of a peace institute could not get along. It
> must say something about human nature.
>
> The full version can be read at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/Martin.htm
>
> Nick Gier
>
> A GREAT DREAM UNFULFILLED: THE MARTIN INSTITUTE AT 30
>
>
> When World War II began in 1939, the Boyd and Grace Martin were in
> Stanford, California, where Boyd was finishing a Ph.D. in political
> science.  The young couple was so anxious about the state of world affairs
> that they invested their life savings of $800 to establish a research
> institute that would study the causes of war. Today that seed money has
> grown to $1.2 million.
>
> After his retirement in 1973, Boyd worked tirelessly to fulfill his vision
> of a world-class think tank for world peace.  In 1979 the Martin Institute
> was officially established, and Boyd was keen to appoint research fellows
> and start a peace studies curriculum.
>
> In 1990 the name was changed to the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and
> Conflict Resolution, and a part-time director and about dozen research
> fellows were appointed.  As one of the new fellows, I was fully committed to
> Boyd’s dream and focused all of my research on peace studies.
>
> For my 1992-93 sabbatical to India and Japan, I supplemented my half
> sabbatical salary with a small grant from the Martin Institute with an
> equally modest grant from the Niwano Peace Foundation.  Funding in this area
> of study is very limited.
>
> Boyd Martin was committed to the idea of a peace studies curriculum that
> would combine existing courses in political science, history, philosophy,
> and religious studies with new courses in peace studies.
>
> During the summer of 1994, I used Martin Institute funds to develop a
> course entitled "Peace and the World Religions."  I taught the course twice
> as an overload, but it died for lack of follow through by the UI
> administration.  As Coordinator of Religious Studies, I had made, in vain, a
> request for a new faculty member for that program as well as for new Martin
> courses.
>
> The best years of the Martin Institute were under the leadership of Jack
> Vincent, who was hired as both director and Borah Distinguished Professor.
> Vincent empowered the fellows by allowing them to govern the institute by
> means of three committees.
>
> Professor Vincent was soon replaced by Richard Slaughter, who had a
> top-down management style that led to dissension within the institute.
> Without any consultation with fellows, Slaughter phased out a very
> successful program in mediating Pacific Northwest regional conflicts.
>
> Slaughter also had the audacity to tell me that my work on Gandhi was not
> appropriate for the Martin Institute. He had also been very dismissive and
> reluctant to fund a two-day UI version of the National Day of Non-Violence,
> which I organized with students in April of 1998.
>
> When I returned to Moscow in January 2000 from my third research trip to
> India, I was shocked to discover that Slaughter had demoted the fellows and
> had allocated all the research funds to peace science studies rather than to
> humanities-based peace studies.  Martin fellows from each of these areas had
> gotten along very well until Slaughter sought to drive a wedge between us.
>
> The current director Bill Smith has done a great job with the Martin
> Scholar and Martin Honors Seminar programs.  Every spring the Martin
> Institute also sends 15 UI students to the Model United Nations.
>
> Bill Smith has also been able to attract excellent speakers for the Martin
> Forums.  I had the privilege of starting this series when in 1998, when I
> invited Professor Mahendra Kumar of New Delhi’s Gandhi Peace Foundation to
> speak on the resumption of nuclear weapons testing by the Indian
> government.  I also led the second Martin Forum on the crisis in Bosnia,
> Serbia, and Kosovo.
>
> If Boyd Martin were still alive today, he would certainly approve of the
> fact that international studies and its 195 majors are now part of the
> Martin Institute.  Director Smith has been able to bring in, on a regular
> basis, Islamic scholars as well as visiting professors from China, Africa,
> and Central Europe.
>
> Boyd would just as dismayed as anyone that, because of the financial
> crisis, the Martin Director will also have to chair the foreign language
> department. But most of all, Boyd would be solely disappointed to see that
> the research fellows and successful mediator are gone, and there is still no
> peace studies curriculum.  These elements were integral to his vision, and I
> regret very much that we were unable to fulfill all the elements of Boyd and
> Grace Martin’s dream of 1939.
>
> Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31
> years.  He was Senior Fellow at the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and
> Conflict Resolution from 1990-2000.  Read chapters from his Gandhi book at
> www.class.uidaho.edu/vnv.htm.
>
>
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