Academia in Maastricht (part 2): the life and times of a Polish-American rebel
What is driving talented minds towards scientific life in the south of the Netherlands?
Most people will probably agree that academics are a special breed. They spend most of their lives within the confines of a university setting. They exist within a carefully manufactured bubble. Their world is an artificial congregation of knowledge that is far removed from the state of affairs outside their sheltered existence.
Although the statements above may be carrying things to the extreme, academia is often accused of being caught up in a repetitive loop. And hence academics are de facto stuck spinning their wheels. This calls for a solid defence, a mission I am happy to take on.
In my search for the answer to why academia - and academia in Maastricht in particular - is appealing to some, I interviewed a number of expats at the University of Maastricht. After a first meeting with Italian junior researcher Marco Zinzani, I spoke with Polish-American assistant professor Tomek Grabowski for a second opinion on the matter.
Academic surroundings
After some initial confusion about the exact location I arrive at the faculty of Arts and social Sciences on Grote Gracht 90-92 for my appointment with Tomek Grabowski. It is yet another radiant autumn day in Maastricht and I’m slightly overheated from the sun, running late and being a bit lost. The square in between the buildings is virtually empty except for a small group of professor-looking types. I also notice there is a marked lack of space to park my bike.
Under the disapproving glare of the group of professors I fidget around with my coat in one arm and my bag dangling from the other as I struggle to squeeze the front wheel of my bike in between two containers (my bike cannot stand on its own). Some muffled swearwords manage to escape under my breath.
However, as soon as I look up and take a second to observe the surroundings my bad mood is instantaneously cured. The cobblestone square is dominated by a majestic historical building with an air of distinction. Old knowledge.
It’s already past four in the afternoon and I find the place deserted. A glass partition exposes the old city wall, ingenuously connecting the inside world with the outside. Duly impressed by the atmosphere, I slowly make my way up the ancient staircase. The door to Tomek’s office is open, and I peer in to discover a very capable looking man in a narrow room overlooking the square.
From Poland to the US
After greeting me courteously, Tomek starts telling me about his life. Born in Poland, Tomek completed his undergraduate degree in Krakow before moving to the US aged 26. After first spending a year in New York doing physical jobs, he moved to Berkeley, California, to work on a PhD in political Science.
In consistence with what he calls a “classical immigrant story”, he then stayed at Berkeley. He lived and worked there for a total of 15 years before moving to Maastricht in search for a more permanent job.
When he spotted the job ad for Maastricht University, one of the things that attracted Tomek was the urban environment. Without having much time to form expectations, he arrived in Maastricht during the spring and remembers being instantly touched by the pleasant and lively city.
On a personal level, the new position was also convenient for him at the time, as his marriage was breaking down, and Maastricht provided him with the opportunity to move on: “In this sense it was like a godsend”. Tomek, now 45, works partly as a researcher, partly as an assistant professor in political science for the very interdisciplinary ‘European Studies’ programme.
Moving from Poland to the US forced Tomek to culturally readjust in a major way. “It involved all the odysseys of an immigrant,” Tomek explains, “because Polish and American cultures are very different”. At first he found it easy to be infatuated with the colorful and to some level pleasing American lifestyle. However, after some time, he discovered that “the longer you live there, the more you see the difference, and you begin to doubt your choice, you feel lonely and homesick”. But finally, he managed to adapt himself: “Assimilation if you will. This happens when you begin to really view a country as your home, although it’s never fully as emotionally and deeply rooted as your old country”.
When Tomek relocated to the Netherlands things were different: “I was not flexible enough to go through another cultural change and resisted it”. In a way he thinks this may only have reinforced his American identity. He says that he initially thought that the Netherlands would be more like the US, “very individualistic and breaking through hierarchies.” Although he was somewhat disappointed in this regard, he adds that he cannot generalise much as most of his observations are based on his experience in Maastricht.
Why academia?
Life in academia came as a natural choice to Tomek. Throughout his life he was interested in books, and his father was also an academic. A self-proclaimed egghead, he tells me “I got my fist glasses when I was seven, which might give you a little bit of an idea”. Then laughing: “Yes, I was always a little bit of a nerd”.
Besides, he is not a very practical person in terms of career, he admits. “I dread working from nine to five, to me it’s like death because it’s so pedestrian and mundane”. First and foremost he sees himself as an independent writer, writing being his true passion. He just finished his first book, which as he smilingly adds “cost me ten years of my life”. Tomek describes his book, “A Dawn of A Culture: Frontiers and Institutions in the Making of Individualism”, to be published in the US in 2009, as a historical political science book: “academic but aimed to engage a wider audience, interesting and a bit entertaining”.
Choosing a career in academia can have a strong influence in one’s personal life, and Tomek even suspects to have paid a sort of personal price for it. He moved to the US together with his girlfriend, got married but “at one moment our paths diverged”. He explains that his ex-wife was very successful in a more “practical life”, which to him involved too many “constraining bureaucracies”. “From her point of view this attitude definitely had something to do with my inability or unwillingness to fit into the more conventional career-life,” he says.
In short Tomek is too much of a rebel to live in a world that is oriented towards conformity. He even declares that he is barely able to function within academia, but accepts to do so because it gives him more room to do his own things. All in all, he doesn’t have any regrets: “I am quite happy with who I am and try to think long-term. Maybe it’s an illusion but the thought that my book will be read after I’m gone is a nice thought. On that timescale it also doesn’t matter when I finish it”. Deadlines are terribly distracting for Tomek, and life in academia gives him the time and flexibility to explore things further, “and that’s a very nice feeling”.
“A feudal environment”
With regard to the general atmosphere at Maastricht University, Tomek has mixed feelings. On the one hand he very much appreciates the freedom he’s been given to pursue his own endeavours. He is happy to be able to teach in English and enjoys having good students from all over Europe.
On the other hand he is very disappointed by what he calls the old-fashioned, almost tribal, culture of the university: “There is very little room for non-conformity, it’s almost a feudal environment where seniority is very much stressed”. As Tomek describes it: “You can choose to join the tribe, and if you don’t you’re on the outside.” Tomek believes Maastricht University is stuck in a way in a time warp, very safe, state-funded, and guarantied of masses of new (mostly German) students each year: “All disincentives to modernise.”
Listening to Tomek I’m struck by how his assessment is in contradiction with the speech given by Jo Ritzen, the university’s chairman, barely two months ago, at the opening of the Academic year. “But what about all the work that is being done to create a modern and international image for the university?” I confront Tomek. He concurs that there have been accomplishments in the formal sphere, but that they have not extended to the more informal culture. That culture, he thinks, is “very parochial and provincial”. As an example he tells me how newcomers are pressed to learn Dutch. According to him this is done to speed up assimilation so that newcomers can participate in the old rituals. As another example he tells me about the plethora of rigid rules: “One of the most commonly used words is ‘forbidden’. For example, you are forbidden to park bicycles in the courtyard, etcetera”. In a flash, I see my bike stashed in between the two containers and the group of professors who had looked annoyed.
Indeed, what seems to bother Tomek the most is the web of regulations. He understands that the university values its cultural tradition, but feels that if you invite people from different countries you should also allow for different cultural traditions. Whereas now people are forced to choose to either fit in or fall out. “This is a typical reaction of well-established cultural environments,” says Tomek. “When there is an influx of new people you close ranks and enforce your own rules even more strictly”.
Paradoxically, this way of coping with outsiders, who were initially recruited in an attempt to be more international and diverse, seems to result in the opposite effect. In the long run Tomek foresees that the university will be forced to modernise. He expects competition to increase, most likely from Anglo-Saxon and private Eastern European schools.
Tomek shares Marco Zinzani’s impression that Maastricht University is not very well known abroad. “Americans are notoriously misinformed, but there is a general high regard for European educational institutions”. Compared to the University of Maastricht, Tomek feels that Berkeley is more democratic and egalitarian in its ethos. “Maastricht has an almost a 19th century feel to it, and at Berkeley there is more room for personal disagreement”. On the other hand, he accuses Berkeley of nurturing more ideological biases.
And what about the stereotypical image of “academics being stuck spinning their wheels”? Tomek agrees, saying: “By and large it is becoming true, academia is going through over professionalisation, whereby you are supposed to produce material measurements. It’s about how many articles you write”. Superiors sometimes bother him about when he will publish his next article. Tomek says he ignores these constraints, although he acknowledges that he has published very little.
“You can publish it all”
In spite of the risk of coming across as pompous Tomek is adamant about doing things his own way. His friends consider him an anarchist and a rebel, even here in Maastricht. He deems himself very lucky to have been given the right to be different so far. His wish is that his book will have some influence on the outside world, because it is politically charged and in part about his home country. He hopes to stir something up, offend some people, and ultimately put some things in motion in Poland.
Tomek likes his job enough not to have immediate plans to leave. “I think it’s a matter of how long the university will be able to tolerate me”, he says, stressing, “You can publish it all, I don’t mind.” However he doesn’t think he’ll spend his entire life here: “It’s very important for me to move around and change my environment”.
After our conversation I find my way back outside. As I unlock my illegally parked bike and notice the ‘verboden fietsen te plaatsen’-sign I feel like a bit of a rebel myself and can’t suppress a broad smile. What a beautiful day and what an interesting man!
As I take a moment and reflect on the fascinating stories conveyed to me by Marco and Tomek I realise that I still haven’t learned anything. They both answered all my questions but still, I’m left with an abundance of unanswered ones. Perhaps that’s one of the real charms of academia: realising that every answer only comes with more questions attached. This knowledge is part of what sets academics apart from the rest of the world. What’s more, it doesn’t keep them from searching for answers, an astonishing attitude!
By Rosanne Rademaker
Born in The Hague, Rosanne Rademaker is currently living and studying in Maastricht for a research master in Neuro Psychology. Rosanne also writes (in Dutch) for youth magazine Code Maastricht.
Related articles:
- Academia in Maastricht (part 1): “A good quality of life and a university: the perfect combination of things”
- Academia in Maastricht (part 3): Lost in translation
- Academia in Maastricht (part 4): Are academics stuck spinning their wheels? A final verdict
