In this article, the author contends that there is confusion among the general public about what defines a liberal arts college and liberal arts education. This confusion over what is liberal and what is professional, over what is a liberal arts college and what is not, provides an interesting backdrop to the question about the conflation of liberal and professional education. Progress has been made in bringing liberal arts and professional programs together, although the professions have reached farther across the aisle to bridge the old divisions. The challenge is to achieve an authentic mutual integration of liberal and professional learning objectives.