HISTORY OF THE IRISH STUDIES PROGRAM

Why the Irish Program at UM Belongs to the Community, Not Just the University

The Irish Studies program at the University of Montana did not appear by accident, and it does not belong to the current administration alone. It was built over decades through the work of the Montana community, the Irish government, the Friends of Irish Studies in the West, and the faculty and students who turned Montana’s Irish history into a living academic and cultural program.

That distinction matters now, because the University is presenting this as though it were a simple internal decision about a minor. It is not. This program belongs to a much larger story.

Montana’s Irish history did not begin at UM

Long before Irish Studies was formally established at the University of Montana, Montana already held an unusual and important place in Irish history.

Thomas Francis Meagher helped shape the political development of Montana Territory while also contributing to the wider story of Irish-American identity. Irish immigrants, especially in places like Butte and Anaconda, built communities that became some of the most deeply Irish places in the United States. Those communities preserved cultural traditions, supported Irish nationalist causes, and maintained organizations tied to Ireland’s political and cultural life.

Montana’s Irish history is a cornerstone of our State’s identity.

Leaders and cultural figures from Ireland visited Montana. Montana communities helped support the Gaelic League and other cultural efforts. In the twentieth century, organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians helped foster cultural exchange and reconciliation through efforts such as Project Children. Over generations, Montana developed an Irish connection that was historical, cultural, political, and personal.

The Irish Studies program at UM was built on that foundation. The University did not invent it. The University became the place where it was housed.

How the program was built

The modern Irish Studies program at UM grew out of sustained community work. The Montana Gaelic Cultural Society, founded in 1997, helped research Montana’s Irish history and revive Irish language and culture in the state. In partnership with UM faculty and the Irish government, that work led directly to the establishment of Irish Studies at UM in 2006.

The Friends of Irish Studies in the West was formally created in 2007 for one purpose: to support, expand, and sustain that program.

Since then, the program has grown into one of the most distinctive Irish language and Irish Studies programs in the United States. It has connected Montana to Ireland through scholarship, language, exchange, diplomacy, public history, and community life.

What FISW and its partners have built

Over the past two decades, this partnership has produced extraordinary results.

• FISW helped build and fund relationships with the Irish government that brought major Irish dignitaries to Montana, including ambassadors, consuls general, and the President of Ireland in 2006 to launch the program.

• FISW supported public history work in Butte, including funding for digitization projects and traveling exhibits on Thomas Francis Meagher, Montana’s Irish language revival, and Irish involvement in independence movements.

• FISW helped support restoration efforts at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Butte, including bilingual historical markers in Irish and English.

• FISW established and funded the regular placement of Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants at UM. These instructors have enriched the campus and community not only through language, but through music, dance, sport, and cultural programming.

• FISW also helped create and fund online Irish-language courses through the Montana Digital Academy, making Montana the only place outside Ireland where high school students can study Irish Gaeilge in this way. Hundreds of Montana students have gone through that program.

The organization also helped develop virtual exchange programs linking Montana schools with schools in Ireland, and helped facilitate the 2023 Irish trade delegation that culminated in the creation of the Montana-Ireland Trade Commission.

How UM has benefited

The University of Montana has benefited enormously from this partnership.

Since 2006, the Irish government has awarded more than $774,000 directly to the Irish Studies program at UM. FISW has contributed more than $129,000 directly to the University, in addition to substantial off-campus fundraising, development, and outreach that enhanced UM’s reputation, recruitment pipeline, and international visibility.

UM has also benefited from:

• a flagship exchange relationship with University College Cork

• a steady pipeline of exchange students

• Fulbright instructors and visiting scholars

• statewide recruitment and outreach through Irish language programming

• national and international distinction tied to Irish language and culture

This is not a program the University built by itself. It is a program the University has benefited from because others chose to invest in it.

Why the language matters

The Irish language is not a side component of the program. It is the core of it.

It is what gives the program its distinct identity. It is what makes the University of Montana different from countless universities that may offer a course on Irish literature or history, but do not offer a living connection to Irish Gaelic culture. It is what supports the exchange relationships, the Fulbright placements, the school programs, the hurling tradition, and the wider community network.

Without the language, the program and all affiliations will collapse.

Why this matters now

The University is currently presenting this as though it were simply a matter of low minor-completion numbers. That framing strips away the history, the partnerships, the public value, and the community ownership that made the program possible in the first place.

This is why so many people are speaking out. The Irish program at UM is not just a minor. It is a community-built institution, rooted in Montana history and sustained through partnership, not administrative convenience.

If the University no longer wishes to steward that work, the work will not suddenly lose its value. But UM will have given up something unique, something deeply tied to Montana, and something that should never have been treated as expendable in the first place.

🔗HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM🔗

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