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Thursday, April 10, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Program is Part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project 

Open Inquiry and the Collegiate Mission

Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Director of the Campus Free Expression Project

Free expression and open inquiry are under threat in our country. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill will speak on how colleges can uphold open inquiry and raise the bar for civic discourse.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project, which is funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Headshot of Jacqueline Pfeffer MerrillJacqueline Pfeffer Merrill is director of the Campus Free Expression Project, a project she launched at the Bipartisan Policy Center and brought to CIC in 2024. Earlier in her career, she was on the faculties of College of William & Mary (VA) and St. John’s College (MD). She has also taught at the University of Calgary (Canada), Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (Germany), and in the college program at Maryland’s only prison for women. Pfeffer Merrill serves as a trustee of the Association for Core Texts Read more

Monday, April 7, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

The Revitalization of the American Indian Food System

Michael Kotutwa Johnson, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Resilience at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment

Johnson will talk about his effort to revitalize the American Indian Food system under the topics of biodiversity and conservation. This lecture will take a look at some of the health problems that plague American Indian communities and offer solutions to help bring back not only Indigenous-based foods but also culture.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of American studies, anthropology & archaeology, food studies, history and the Center for Civic Learning & Action and the Center for the Futures of Native Peoples. This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series and it’s annual theme, Alternative Models. In addition, this program was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Michael Kotutwa Johnson is an assistant professor of Indigenous resilience at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment and a core faculty member of the Indigenous Resilience Center. His Read more

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Misinformation in the Age of AI

Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Sciences

The intentional (disinformation) or unintentional (misinformation) spread of false information is not new, but with the advent of social media and the growth of narrowly-directed communication channels the problem has reached epidemic proportions. Prominent examples of disinformation include the intentional efforts of the tobacco industry to discount the impact of smoking on lung cancer and the campaign of the fossil fuel industry to question whether climate change is even happening and its role in warming the climate. Even misinformation can be deadly, as seen in resistance to childhood vaccines and the excess death toll during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by false rumors about the RNA vaccine. Coupled with the erosion in public trust in the efforts of our government and prominent institutions, including colleges and universities, it is difficult to craft simple solutions for the benefit of public health and safety. AI raises the stakes by making it easier to create and spread false information and more difficult to detect truth from fiction. Fortunately, there are promising approaches, but success will depend on different Read more

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Rainbows and Mud: Pathways to Queer Thriving in a Marginalizing Society

Nic Weststrate, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago

The over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced to state legislatures in 2024 are a painful reminder that circumstances framing LGBTQ+ lives haven’t gotten much better despite promises of progress and no shortage of hope. A subset of these bills concern LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship and book bans—bans that threaten LGBTQ+ people’s access to knowledge necessary for surviving and thriving in a marginalizing and increasingly hostile society. Such limitations around access to knowledge are conceptualized here as an epistemic injustice. Drawing from six years of research, this lecture will explore the ways that LGBTQ+ communities counter epistemic injustice by coming together across generations for social connection, storytelling, and wisdom-sharing. The studies leverage multiple methods, including an innovative letter-writing paradigm, close observations of intergenerational dyadic storytelling exchanges, and a multi-year community-engaged ethnographic experiment. By shining a light on the joys and challenges of LGBTQ+ intergenerational engagement, glimmers of a better future for LGBTQ+ people are made visible.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments Read more

Monday, March 24, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

On Being from Elsewhere

André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

I have been a foreigner in many countries but never a local. As a writer of memoirs, I have given the matter much thought. Although all memoirs tell the story of what happened, what a memoir is not always able to do is narrate what was desired to happen but never did happen. To write what happened is one thing—that’s what autobiographies are supposed to do—but to probe the psychological intricacies of desire, fear, heartache, disappointment, etc., is usually the domain of novels, not even of memoirs. But then here is the paradox: a memoir can borrow the conventions of fiction, even wants to sound novelistic, but without inventing facts. This is the major difference between the might-have-been, which our minds are always flirting with, as opposed to the usual marshalling of past, present, and future. One can be elsewhere in space; but one can also be elsewhere in time. And this is what I’ve written about.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of English.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

André Read more

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream link coming soon

Black History Month Keynote

We Are Called to Be a Movement

Rev. William J. Barber II, Yale Divinity School

For years the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign has been one of the most gifted moral fusion organizers, strategists and orators in the country. As an indispensable figure in the public policy and public theology landscape, he believes it’s time for everyone who cares about the state of our nation to heed the call and join forces to redeem the soul of America. It’s time to come together and renounce the politics of rejection, division and greed, and to lift up the common good, move up to higher ground and revive the heart of democracy. During this inspiring keynote, the Rev. Barber makes an impassioned argument with a message that could not be clearer: It’s time for change and the time needs you. A book sale and signing will follow the lecture.

This program is sponsored by the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Headshot of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber IIRev. Dr. William J. Barber II is president and Read more

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Livestream link coming soon

Love Your Body Week Keynote

Out of Time: Fatness, Disability, and Fat Crip Time

April Herndon,  Winona State University

This talk explores the ways fat and/or disabled bodies are often depicted as being part of the past but not of a collective future because they are deemed too expensive, too much a reminder of vulnerability, too much in general. As a result, those of us living in fat and/or disabled bodies are often disciplined and pushed to pursue imagined futures—where many of us do not exist—through “treatments” and “cures,” robbing us of the present. Using my personal experiences as a fat and disabled woman and an intersectional Fat Studies and Disability Studies lens, I’ll explain how fat and/or disabled bodies challenge normative concepts of time. I’ll also suggest that Fat Crip Time, which acknowledges that fatness and disability can mean a person experiences time differently, can help us live in the present, know fat and disabled bodies as potential sites of joy rather than only hardship, and offer a framework for justice and liberation.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and by the Women’s & Read more

Monday, February 10, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream link coming soon

Citizenship in an Age of Perpetual Conflict

Phil Klay, Marine Corps Veteran & Author

Though the war in Afghanistan ended in failure and the war in Iraq wound down to a small troop presence, America remains enmeshed in military conflicts around the world. From Africa to the Middle East, we have troops directly in harm’s way, while in countries like Ukraine and Israel we provide support of various kinds, from munitions to critical intelligence.  How should we think about our role as citizens of a country so deeply involved in warfare, and how might literature help us better understand the stakes of the killing done in our name?  A book signing will follow the presentation. Books will be available for purchase at the college bookstore.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Mellon Higher Education Grant “Beyond the New Normal” and by the Middle East Studies Program, the departments of women’s, gender & sexuality studies, English, and military science, and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.  This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series and Read more

Monday, November 18, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Reinventing Germany, Again and Again

Janine Ludwig, cultural historian of East Germany
Anne Rabe, playwright and novelist
Matthias Rogg, historian and colonel in the German army
Antje Pfannkuchen (moderator), co-director, Clarke Forum

The history of modern Germany has forced continuous reorientations. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the panelists will discuss today’s Germany and its global position.

This Clarke Forum event represents our Germany on Campus program, co-sponsored by the German Embassy Washington DC, the Max Kade Foundation, and the Department of German. In addition, it is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series which is supported by the Churchill Fund and it’s annual theme, Alternative Models.

Topic overview written by Noah Salsich ’25

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Janine Ludwig photoJanine Ludwig is a literary scholar, also Vice Head of the Institute for Cultural German Studies (ifkud), and Chairwoman of the International Heiner Müller Society. Ludwig studied Contemporary German Literature, Philosophy, and Theater Studies/Cultural Communication. She is an expert on East German and post-war literature, but also an academic Read more

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Stern Center, Great Room, 12:00 p.m.

***Lunch provided, please RSVP to clarkeforum@dickinson.edu by noon on 11/13/24.

Livestream Link

International Perspectives on 2024 Election

Panelists

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa, representing Yaoundé, Cameroon
Mario Guerrero, representing Mendoza, Argentina
Hilary Sanders, representing Toulouse, France
Konstantin Sonin, representing Moscow, Russia
Neil van Siclen, representing Bremen, Germany
Sarah Niebler (moderator), Dickinson College

The US presidential election is being watched closely throughout the world. Colleagues from Dickinson’s global programs will discuss the effects the results have for their countries and beyond.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Topic overview written by Bella Lapp ’26

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa Photo

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa is full professor and permanent faculty of political history, global issues and political sciences at the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. He studied political history and international relations in Cameroon and moved on to study political sciences at the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA with a focus on peace and security studies. Professor Dze-Ngwa is senior fellow and consultant on terrorism and violent extremism with the New York-based Global Center on Cooperative Security. He is visiting professor of Universite d’Artois, France; and founding president of the Heritage Read more

Monday, November 11, 2024 – The Molly and Wayne Borges Memorial Lecture

Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

The Molly and Wayne Borges Memorial Lecture

Danger, Purity and the Holy Land Past and Present

Robin Darling Young, Catholic University of America

To the holy city of Jerusalem and the land that surrounds it, three new and distinct assemblies laid claims of territorial and devotional holiness. This lecture explores the expression of those claims in discourse, in construction, and in demolition.

This joint event is sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Carlisle and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Religion.

Topic overview written by Sarah Ruschak ’27

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Robin Darling Young is Ordinary (Full) Professor of Church History at the Catholic University of America, and affiliated faculty of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages. Her most recent publications are (as editor in chief) an annotated commentary and translation, from Greek and Syriac, of the Gnostic Trilogy of Evagrius of Pontus, and a translation of the Armenian Letters of Evagrius (CSCO, 2023) with Hovsep Karapetyan. She is at work on an interpretive study of that author as a philosopher in the Alexandrian tradition, and is co-translating the Contra Celsum Read more

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This event is in-person only. It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

Open Forum on the 2024 Election

Dickinson Community Forum with Faculty Panel

Russell Bova, political science & international studies
Katie Marchetti, political science
Ed Webb, political science & international studies
Sarah Niebler, political science (will also serve as moderator)

Dickinson Faculty will discuss observations and analyses of the recent US Presidential election and take questions.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Topic overview written by Kylie De La Cruz ’27

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Russ Bova headshotRussell Bova is professor of political science and the J. William Stuart & Helen D. Stuart ’32 Chair in International Studies. Bova teaches a variety of courses on international relations and comparative politics. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on Russian politics and comparative democratization. He is also the author of How the World Works, an introductory international relations textbook.

 

Katie Marchetti is associate professor of political science. Professor Marchetti’s teaching interests focus on gender and U.S. politics, interest groups, intersectionality, political representation, and political methodology. Her research on these and other topics has been published in Politics Read more

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Puerto Rico – The 51st State? Explaining the Diminished Prospects for Puerto Rico Statehood

Carlos Vargas-Ramos, Director for Public Policy, External and Media Relations, and Development at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College

This lecture discusses the territorial condition of Puerto Rico in relation to the United States and the unlikely prospects in the near future that Puerto Rico will be admitted into the Union as member on equal standing with other states. In order to address this narrower topic, I will address more broadly the nature of the relation of Puerto Rico and the United States, the historical process of incorporation of the U.S. territories into the Union, the partisan reasons why Congress may not want to incorporate Puerto Rico as a state, the political reasons why a solid majority of residents of Puerto Rico may still not want Puerto Rico  to become a U.S. state, the economic, racial and cultural obstacles for Congress to admit Puerto Rico as a state, and the international context that provides little incentive for Puerto Rico’s decolonization.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments Read more

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 – The Morgan Lecture

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 6 p.m.

The Morgan Lecture

The Black Birthing Crisis: Why Understanding Slavery & Gynecology Helps Us All

Deirdre Cooper Owens,  associate professor of history and Africana studies at the University of Connecticut

For decades, the United States has been the most dangerous high-income earning nation for pregnant Black women and birthing people. The current birthing crisis didn’t originate in a vacuum. With roots in colonial America, medical doctors and surgeons exceptionalized Black women’s medical experiences and lives throughout slavery and Jim Crow. Cooper Owens will present on the layered history of American slavery, the birth of gynecology, and the current U.S. birthing crisis offering insights and possible solutions to end this state of emergency. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Africana studies, history, women’s, gender & sexuality studies and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center. This program was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s annual theme, Alternative Models.

Topic overview written by Shayna Herzfeld ’25

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Deirdre Cooper Owens is an Read more

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Program is Part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project 

A New Divide – The Possibility for Dialogue

Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA

Since its founding in 2018, BridgeUSA has become the largest and fastest growing student movement in the country empowering young people to engage in constructive dialogue and healthy disagreement to improve our democracy. With over 60 college and 20 high school chapters and a network engaging 10,000 students, the journey of building BridgeUSA has led Manu to uncover some hidden truths about the possibility for constructive dialogue at one of the most divided times in American history.

This lecture will outline how students, faculty, and administrators can leverage BridgeUSA’s learnings to facilitate constructive dialogue and difficult conversations on campus. The possibility for a more pluralistic and open-minded future is strong- this lecture will posit how Dickinson College can help lead the way.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project, which is funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. In addition, it is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series Read more

Monday, September 23, 2024 – LGBTQ Rights in Africa

Time: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
RSVP: By Wednesday, September 18 to clarkeforum@dickinson.edu. Space is limited. More information will be sent once we receive your RSVP.

Several African countries consider homosexuality a crime, and it is punishable by death in these four: Mauritania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Somalia. Over ten countries have prison sentences ranging from one year up to a life sentence. South Africa is the only country on the continent in which there are protections for LGBTQ individuals’ sexuality and/or gender expression; it is the first and only African nation to legalize same-sex marriage. Today, many African cultures believe that queerness is a “Western and American import” because of the generational trauma their society has experienced due to colonization. In 2023, the Ugandan parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Law, an updated, stricter version from 2014. “Aggravated homosexuality,” consensual sex between two adults where one has HIV, is punishable by death. Those known or suspected of helping (providing housing or employment) or not reporting an LGBTQ person to police can face up to 20 years in jail. This has led to queer Ugandans being evicted from their homes, fired from their jobs, denied proper healthcare as well as harassed and blackmailed. Harmful legislation Read more

Thursday, September 19, 2024 – The Bechtel Lecture

Poster for Pascaline DupasAnita Tuvin Schlechter, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Boosting Human Capital in Africa: Why It’s Needed, and How to Get It Done

Pascaline Dupas, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University

Boosting Africa’s human capital—the health, knowledge, skills, and resilience of its people—is key to the fight against world poverty amidst climate change, but also to Africa’s ability to harness its demographic potential . The lecture will discuss evidence-based policies that governments and international organizations can put in place to do a big push on human capital on the continent. 

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Bechtel Lectureship Fund and the departments of international studies and economics.

Topic overview written by Georgia Schaefer-Brown ’25

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Pascaline Dupas is Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She joined the Princeton faculty in July 2023. She was previously the Kleinheinz Family Professor of International Studies at Stanford University, where she spent 12 years on the faculty. She has also held faculty positions at Dartmouth College and UCLA.   

Dupas is a development economist studying the challenges facing poor households in lower income countries and their root causes. Read more

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 – Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Conversation

Picturing the Constitution PosterAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Light refreshments available in the lobby prior to the program from 6 – 6:50 p.m.

Livestream Link

Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Conversation

Picturing the Constitution: Curators, Artists and Scholars in Conversation

Katherine Gressel, Curator
Bang Geul Han, Artist
Steven Mazie, Constitutional Expert

How can artists help enhance our understanding of the United States Constitution, its interpretations throughout history, and our own political participation? Join Katherine Gressel, curator of the 2023 Picturing the Constitution exhibition at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, participating artist Bang Geul Han, and Supreme Court correspondent and political scientist Steven Mazie for a joint presentation and panel discussion focused on artists’ responses to the United States Constitution, including its origins, contents, and interpretations. All artists are engaged in interpreting the world around them. This panel will explore the value of creatively applying interpretive tools to the Constitution as a document of ever-evolving meaning. 

Picturing the Constitution featured artists’ responses to the United States Constitution, including its origins, contents, and interpretations. Installations, workshops and performances in diverse media by 17 artists and art teams asked: to what extent do these founding documents still serve us (equitably)? What could we add Read more

Snapshot of Fall 2024

While we work on our programming for the fall semester, there are a few ways to stay connected to the Clarke Forum. You can enjoy our content by viewing past programs and listening to guest interviews conducted by our talented student project managers.

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where our previous programs are available for viewing.

Snapshot of Fall 2024

Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 7 p.m.
Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Conversation
Picturing the Constitution: Curators, Artists and Scholars in Conversation
Panel Discussion

Thursday, September 19, 2024, 7 p.m.
The Bechtel Lecture
Boosting Human Capital in Africa: Why It’s Needed, and How to Get It Done
Pascaline Dupas, Princeton University

Thursday, September 26, 2024, 7 p.m.
Puerto Rico – The 51st State? Explaining the Diminished Prospects for Puerto Rico Statehood
Carlos Vargas-Ramos, Hunter College

Tuesday, October 1, 2024, 7 p.m.
A New Divide – The Possibility for Dialogue
Manu Meel, BridgeUSA

Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 6 p.m.
The Black Birthing Crisis: Why Understanding Slavery & Gynecology Helps Us All
Deirdre Cooper Owens, University of Connecticut

Thursday, November 7, 2024, 7 p.m.
Open Forum on the 2024 Election
Dickinson Community Forum with Faculty Panel

Monday, November 11, 2024, Read more

Our Programming is Completed for the Fall 2024 Semester

Check back with us periodically to see what it is planned for Spring  2025.

While we work on our programming for the spring semester, there are a few ways to stay connected to the Clarke Forum. You can enjoy our content by viewing past programs and listening to guest interviews conducted by our talented student project managers.

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where our previous programs are available for viewing.

Snapshot of Spring 2025

Monday, February 10, 2025, 7 p.m.
Citizenship in an Age of Perpetual Conflict
Phil Klay, Marine Corps Veteran & Author

Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 7 p.m.
Love Your Body Week Keynote
Out of Time:  Fatness, Disability, and Fat Crip Time
April Herndon, Winona State University

Thursday, February 20, 2025, 7 p.m.
Black History Month Keynote
Rev. William J. Barber II, Yale Divinity School

Monday, March 24, 2025, 7 p.m.
On Being from Elsewhere
André Aciman , author of Call Me by Your Name

Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 7 p.m.
Rainbows and Mud: Pathways to Queer Thriving in a Marginalizing Society 
Nic Weststrate, University of Illinois Chicago  

Thursday, April 3, 2025, 7 p.m.
Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture  
Misinformation in Read more