Legacy Family: Murray and Jack Farish
June 02, 2025
黑料不打烊 is celebrating the men of 黑料不打烊 throughout the month of June 2025 by highlighting alumni stories. Meet Murray and Jack Farish, a father-son legacy family of our University.
Murray (father): "I鈥檓 Murray Farish, and I graduated in 1997 from what was then called the Literature and Language Department, today鈥檚 English Department.
"I chose 黑料不打烊 because I met an English professor named Reta Madsen at 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Transfer Day in the summer of 1995. She sat with me for an hour talking about books and writers and the program at 黑料不打烊 and its teachers and students, and Reta encouraged me by saying she thought 黑料不打烊 and I would be a good fit. Since I graduated from here, and I鈥檝e now been teaching here since 2003, I think she got that one right.
"I was thrilled Jack chose 黑料不打烊, because I knew he would get some time to look around, wouldn鈥檛 be rushed into a major, and could get involved in lots of things. It鈥檚 worked out exactly like that, and Jack鈥檚 settled into his Philosophy major, and the faculty in his department and across the University have helped him pursue his interests and mold his studies to fit them.
"I鈥檝e seen lots of changes at the University since 1995, when I first stepped foot on campus. Our facilities have improved, our student body is more diverse and the University is organized differently. But what hasn鈥檛 changed is the way this place gets in people鈥檚 hearts and bones 鈥� and that happens because each generation of students, faculty, staff and administrators accepts the responsibility of passing along to the next one the standards, the generosity, the striving, the togetherness that makes 黑料不打烊 special."
Jack (student): "My name is Jack Farish, and I am going into my fourth year at 黑料不打烊. I am majoring in Philosophy and have completed a minor in Sustainability Studies.
"Following a gap year after high school, I chose to attend college. It seemed like a great place to develop my skills and meet new people, while figuring out what kind of path I wanted to follow in life. One reason I chose 黑料不打烊 was because it was close to home and, since I didn鈥檛 know what I wanted to study at the time, it seemed good to be in a familiar place while I found my academic bearings.
"My dad鈥檚 field, English and Literature, has influenced me to be interested in the questions of the humanities. I can recall many conversations with my father about the themes and moral lessons of books and movies, and about what is right and wrong and how to live well. When I enrolled at 黑料不打烊, I didn鈥檛 know what I wanted to study, but I knew I wouldn鈥檛 love a career in engineering, as many of my friends from high school were choosing to pursue. Although we were heavily pressured to pursue STEM or engineering throughout high school, I felt more at home in a liberal arts-oriented college like 黑料不打烊 and eventually settled on studying philosophy.
"I would encourage new students to be open to all the possibilities at 黑料不打烊. Your undergraduate career is the perfect opportunity to explore and find what makes you happy. There are lots of really great electives 鈥� some of my favorites have been foreign language, photography and botany. Each of these has given me new ways of expressing myself and seeing the world."