Past Programs

Monday, April 24, 2023 – “The Molly and Wayne Borges Memorial Lecture”

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

There will be a bag check upon entry

Livestream Link

Poster for Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State RealityThe Molly and Wayne Borges Memorial Lecture

Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality

Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania  

Why have Israelis and Palestinians failed to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict that has cost so much and lasted so long? Whose interests are served by decades of a peace process merry-go-round and by the mirage of eventual success? If Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews can agree on neither a state for each nor a state for both, then what way forward is there? In this lecture, Professor Ian Lustick argues that protracted, identity-based conflicts are never solved by clever compromises arrived at through negotiations between antagonists. He explains the failure of negotiations toward a two-state solution by showing how the combination of Zionism’s partially successful Iron Wall strategy for dealing with Arabs, an Israeli political culture saturated with “Holocaustia,” and the Israel lobby’s dominant influence on American policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict scuttled efforts to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But there is hope.  By appreciating the long-term political decisiveness of the unintended consequences of attempts to do other Read more

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Poster for Advertise the event: Ukraine-Russia War: Reflections After One YearUkraine-Russia War: Reflections After One Year

Panel Discussion

Russell Bova, Dickinson College
Alyssa DeBlasio, Dickinson College
Andrew Wolff, Dickinson College

February 24th marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to estimates from the United Nations, the war has claimed the lives of over 8,000 non-combatants and injured an additional 13,000 in Ukraine. Additionally, tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian military personnel have been killed, and the war has created a multifaceted humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in surrounding countries affected by an influx of displaced people and disruptions to regional and global food systems, energy infrastructures, and economies. This student-initiated panel will explore the state of the war and its potential to spread or escalate, and it will apply a transnational lens to the many cultural, economic, political, and social considerations associated with this conflict. Panelists from Dickinson’s departments of international studies, political science, and Russian will engage in a multidisciplinary discussion covering a range of topics, including global responses to the war; the potential effects of NATO expansion; prospects for the Putin regime; and the conflict’s impact on Russian and Ukrainian art, film, language, and literature.

This event is Read more

Monday, April 10, 2023

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Poster for Mark Paul EventThe Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights

Mark Paul, Rutgers University

Since the Founding, Americans have debated the true meaning of freedom. For some, freedom meant the provision of life’s necessities, those basic conditions for the “pursuit of happiness.” For others, freedom meant the civil and political rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights and unfettered access to the marketplace—nothing more.  As Mark Paul explains, the latter interpretation—thanks in large part to a particularly influential cadre of economists—has all but won out among policymakers, with dire repercussions for American society: rampant inequality, endemic poverty, and an economy built to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

In this book, Paul shows how economic rights—rights to necessities like housing, employment, and health care—have been a part of the American conversation since the Revolutionary War and were a cornerstone of both the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement. Their recuperation, he argues, would at long last make good on the promise of America’s founding documents. By drawing on FDR’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights, Paul outlines a comprehensive policy program to achieve a more capacious and enduring version of Read more

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Poster to advertise ARRIVALS program Goodyear Gallery, Exhibit Opening 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Public talk starting at 6 p.m.

Directions to the Goodyear Gallery.  Driving away from downtown Carlisle, travel to the end of the 500 block of W. Louther Street, turn right onto Cedar Street, then take the next right into an alley and keep going straight until you enter a parking lot. The gallery is on your right.

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

ARRIVALS: What’s Left Behind, What Lies Ahead

Andy Bale, Dickinson College
Jon Cox, University of Delaware

ARRIVALS: What’s Left Behind, What Lies Ahead is a collaborative multidisciplinary project that is recording and disseminating the stories of refugees and immigrants that are living in Idaho and the Native Americans that have been displaced from their ancestral lands. As of February 2019, refugees and immigrants from over 100 countries have agreed to participate in a project .

Although Idaho is reputed to be a place of relative cultural homogeneity, the stories of Idaho’s people are layered and complex. Idaho has long been a place where Native Americans have lived or relocated. For three hundred years, it has been a place where other migrants and Read more

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – “Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture”

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Poster for John C. Mather program.Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with the James Webb Space Telescope

John C. Mather, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, is NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope. Peering back in time, it probes the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe from the Big Bang to alien planet formation and beyond. 100 times more powerful than the celebrated Hubble Space Telescope, Webb can detect the heat signature of a bumblebee at the Earth-Moon distance.

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year. The Department of Physics & Astronomy selected this year’s recipient. The event is supported by the Priestley Fund and is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of biology, chemistry,  data analytics, earth sciences, environmental studies, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy, and the Churchill Fund.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Natalia Fedorczak ’24.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

John Mather headshotDr. John C. Mather is a senior Read more

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 – “Bruce R. Andrews Lecture in Political Science”

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

Poster for Bernard Fraga's eventBruce R. Andrews Lecture in Political Science

Sueño Americano or Sueño Republicano? Latino Voters in 2020, 2022, and Beyond  

Bernard Fraga, Emory University 

In 2020, support for Joe Biden among Latina/o/x voters was 8 percentage points lower than support for Hillary Clinton in 2016, the largest drop of any racial/ethnic group. While much media and academic attention has focused on understanding the impact of misinformation, COVID concerns, and racial animus on Latino voters in 2020, in this lecture Fraga will discuss co-authored work examining the demographic and core ideological characteristics of Latino voters who voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Using a mix of national survey data, precinct returns, and voter file records, and disaggregating components of electoral change, he provides evidence of increasing alignment between issue positions and vote choice among Latinos. Moreover, he highlights pro-Trump shifts among working-class Latinos and modest evidence of a pro-Trump shift among newly-engaged U.S.-born Latino children of immigrants and Catholic Latinos. Examining evidence from 2022 elections, Fraga concludes by discussing the likelihood of a durable Republican shift for Latinos going forward. 

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

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Poster Alan Davis Event on Psychedelic-Assisted PsychotherapyAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

 

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Promising Intervention Mental Health Treatment

Alan Davis, Ohio State University

Psychedelic substances produce cognitive effects ranging from psychologically challenging to spiritual, mystical, and insightful. Although several factors are related to the type of psychedelic experiences one might have (i.e., dose, purity of substance, substance used, individual/environmental factors), many report that these experiences are psychologically helpful. For example, cross-sectional surveys and laboratory experiments suggest that psilocybin can have psychotherapeutic benefits, with published reports documenting positive outcomes. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the acute psilocybin experience is associated with positive clinical outcomes and with persisting changes in attitude, mood, personality, beliefs, and behavior among clinical samples with depression, PTSD, addiction, and anxiety. Therefore, this lecture aims to briefly review the empirical literature supporting the study of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, provide a basic framework of the possible acute effects occasioned by these medicines, and assist attendees in developing a foundational understanding of contemporary psychedelic research.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Pre-Health Program and the departments of chemistry and psychology. This event was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Topic overview written by Read more

Wednesday, March 1 – Thursday, March 2, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Althouse 106, 7 p.m.

Poster to advertise Happenings film screening and talk with Nathalie FroloffFilm Screening of Happening

(Film is in French with English Subtitles)

This award-winning 2021 film directed by Audrey Diwan is based on Annie Ernaux’s 2020 book by the same name. The timely exploration of reproductive rights focuses on Anne, “a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. When she falls pregnant in 1960s France, where abortion is illegal, she resolves to act, no matter the risk.”

A Q&A session will follow at 8:45 p.m. moderated by Professor Nathalie Froloff, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris.

 

Thursday, March 2, 2023
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 – 8 p.m.

Life and Fate in Annie Ernaux’s Work: Writing Women’s Invisible History

(Lecture in English)

Nathalie Froloff, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris

From the backlash to the Me Too movement in France to the controversial reception of Annie Ernaux’s 2022 award for the Nobel Prize in Literature, this talk discusses how Ernaux’s work reflects on women’s condition in French society. Moreover, it introduces Ernaux’s literary project, which blends collective and individual experiences into a universal narrative of life and fate.

These events are sponsored by the departments of French & Francophone studies; film studies; women’s, gender & Read more

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Poster for Arachu Castro EventAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

Social Inequality and Maternal and Child Health in Latin America: A Health Equity Perspective 

Arachu Castro, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine  

In this lecture, Castro will present findings from research she conducted in Latin America on the impact of social inequality, poverty, and violence on maternal and child health outcomes. 

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of anthropology & archaeology; international studies; Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean studies; and the health studies and pre-health programs.

Topic overview written by Sofia Perrone ’25

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Arachu Castro headshotArachu Castro, Ph.D., MPH, is the Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin America and director of the Collaborative Group for Health Equity in Latin America at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. She is a medical anthropologist trained in public health. Before joining Tulane in 2013, she was an associate professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School. Among other awards, Castro is the recipient of the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship for her research on HIV and syphilis during pregnancy Read more

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

 

Poster for Psyche Williams Forson eventLove Your Body Week Keynote

Bearing Witness to Myself: Womanness, Blackness, Fatness, Wholeness and…the Twisted Work of Trauma

Psyche Williams-Forson,  University of Maryland College Park

This discussion will engage the intersections of womanness, blackness, fatness, and wholeness to consider different definitions of health and personal agency. Creating healthy bodies requires a redefinition of the food stories that define African American culture. And it requires that we push back against acts that demonize and degrade the foods that help communities “to keep on keepin’ on.” Redefining and pushing back is part of the work that helps to heal bodies as well as minds. Healing occurs when we consider the whole person—the cultural, spiritual, biomedical, economic, and social being and when we allow people to live lives that empower and strengthen them without shame or fear of being shamed.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, and the departments of women’s, gender & sexuality studies; American studies, Africana studies; anthropology; and the Food Studies Program. The program is part of Love Your Body Week programming.

Topic Overview written by Shayna Read more

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Poster to advertise: The Carlisle Project programMathers Theatre, 6 p.m.

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

Tickets are free, reservations are required. (Link to Reserve Tickets)

The Carlisle Project: Artists in Conversation  

Ronee Penoi, FLORA musicals 
Annalisa Dias, FLORA musicals

The Carlisle Project, written by Ronee Penoi (music/lyrics) and Annalisa Dias (lyrics), unravels the complicated legacy and trauma of Indian boarding schools in an expressive song cycle. The project uses song, satire, and ceremony to tell the harrowing history of the Carlisle Indian School and the brutal assimilation enforced under its motto “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” In this musical song cycle, Indigenous descendants separated by time, place, and experience grapple with the generational trauma and erasure that Carlisle caused and explore what it means to be Native American now.  

In their lecture, Penoi and Dias discuss how The Carlisle Project is an act of decolonization and a restorying of our past, while offering a view of an Indigenous future. 

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center on the Futures of Native Peoples; Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education (Cambridge, NY); the Department of Theatre & Dance; Read more

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Poster for Erica Armstrong Dunbar eventAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

(This event will not be recorded for later viewing.)

Black History Month Keynote

Running from the Washingtons: Ona Judge and The Founding of a Nation 

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Rutgers University 

When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the president grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.

Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. At just twenty-two-years-old, Judge became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts Read more

Friday, February 10, 2023

Poster for Rurality and Access to Higher EducationWaidner Admissions House, Large Meeting Room – 6:45 p.m.

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

From Small Town to Campus: Rural Student Experiences at Research One and Liberal Arts Institutions

Opening Keynote: Rurality and Access to Higher Education

Corinne Smith, Associate Director of Admissions at Yale University

In this forum, Smith will address topics related to rurality and access to higher education, such as the complexities of geographic diversity and defining rural; the challenges in identifying rural and small-town applicants; college access barriers impacting rural students; the importance of rural student organizations; and national efforts to support rural and small-town students. This forum will be moderated by Madison Mellinger, student at Princeton University and will be presented via Zoom to an in-person audience.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by Student Engagement, Retention and Persistence at Dickinson. It is part of the national conference “From Small Town to Campus: Rural Student Experiences at Research One and Liberal Arts Institutions.”

Topic overview written by Anne Fisher-Henson ’24

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Corinne Smith, Yale University, HeadshotCorinne Smith (she/her) is an associate director of admissions at Yale University. Originally from a Read more

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

Poster for The Cradle to Prison PipelineThis event is in-person only. It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

The Cradle to Prison Pipeline and the Criminalization of Black Youth  

Kristin Henning, Georgetown Law

Drawing upon twenty-five years of experience representing young people in Washington, D.C.’s juvenile courts, Kristin Henning confronts America’s irrational and manufactured fears of Black youth and makes a compelling case that the nation’s obsession with policing and incarcerating Black America begins with Black children. Unlike White youth, who are afforded the freedom to test boundaries, experiment with sex and drugs, and figure out who they are and who they want to be, Black youth are seen as a threat to White America and denied the privilege of healthy adolescent development. Weaving together powerful narratives and persuasive data, Henning examines the criminalization of Black adolescent play and sexuality, the demonization of Black fashion, hair, and music, and the discriminatory impact of police in schools.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by Penn State Dickinson Law; the Center for Civic Learning & Action; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and the departments of American studies; educational studies; history; philosophy; psychology; sociology; Read more

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Poster for Free Speech on Campus

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

Free Speech on Campus

Sigal Ben-Porath, Professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania

Free speech, a staple of modern democracy, has become the focal point for political and cultural forces impacting universities. Higher education is charged with the mandate to expand the boundaries of knowledge; to disseminate knowledge through teaching and other modes; and to serve the public by training citizens and leaders. To do so it must ensure that a broad range of views and approaches are discussed openly. But should all speech be protected in the name of free inquiry? Should the universities allow bigotry or exclusionary speech that targets specific groups? Should it make room for misinformation? Recent speech controversies around the globe expose the difficulty in carving a response in this polarized time. This struggle over the boundaries of speech is based in disagreement over core democratic principles. A democratic framework of inclusive freedom will be presented and defended. It reflects the values of protecting free thought, inquiry and expression, and maintaining a commitment to the dignity of all campus members.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is Read more

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

The Murder of Madam Bessie Jones poster

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

The Murder of Madam Bessie Jones in Carlisle

J. M. West, Author, Madam Bessie Jones
Pat LaMarche (moderator), Charles Bruce Foundation
Ron Turo, Cumberland County
Carmen James, Cumberland County Historical Society

This October marks the 50th anniversary of the murder of Bessie Jones, who ran a brothel in Carlisle in the mid-20th century. The murder remains unsolved, but Jones’s story is remarkable—she was a black entrepreneur whose clients were exclusively white men. West will provide an overview of Jones’s life and the made-for-television legal case associated with her death. The panel will discuss the complex racial, gender, and sexuality issues that the case brings to light.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Topic overview written by Shayna Herzfeld ’25

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Photo of JM WestJ. M. West, author of the award-winning, Madam Bessie Jones: Her Life and Times,  a tapestry of history: a local brothel owner’s struggles and sacrifices to survive. West also penned the fact based Carlisle Crime Cases series (CCCs) featuring homicide detectives Christopher Snow and Erin McCoy, is Read more

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Keynote for DickinsonPoster for Public Engagement, Organizing and the Role of Faith-Based Institutions‘s Multifaith Week

Public Engagement, Organizing, and the Role of Faith-Based Institutions

Michael Pappas ’83, Executive Director of SanFrancisco Interfaith Council

What is the role of religious and spiritual based communities in advocacy work? In a society which is encountering Christian nationalism, religious extremism, and growing resentment of religion in the public sphere, much of higher education has sought to move away from engagement with religion. Today’s religious and spiritual communities though continue to represent some of the core realms of advocacy work and organizing. Many in higher education attribute religion as being a topic to be avoided, but without the role of religious organizations and the compelling narratives that drive faith-based communities into activism, many in society would be left without a way to engage on larger issues of social concern. This lecture with Dickinson alum Michael Pappas seeks to elevate a conversation around how and why religious and spiritual communities continue to matter in society, their historic as well as present work in communities, and the ways in which individuals can themselves consider careers that coalesce around religion, government, social justice, and public policy. The talk Read more

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Poster for Journalism in Conflict programAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m

Livestream Link

Journalism in Conflict: Reporting from Ukraine and Beyond

Anthony Borden, Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Borden will discuss the work of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), whose mission is to “empower local voices to drive change in countries in conflict, crisis, and transition.” He will discuss the role of IWPR and local journalists in the fight against hate speech and propaganda, and consider the importance of reliable information and public debate in global conflict zones, like Ukraine.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Military Science.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Natalia Fedorczak ’24

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Anthony Borden headshotAnthony Borden is the founder of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR). He was editor of the highly regarded IWPR magazine War Report from 1991-98 and was commended for the “Best Online Journalism Service” in the 1999 NetMedia journalism awards, for IWPR’s reporting on the Kosovo crisis. He has worked with the UK’s Department for International Development assessing media programs in post-communist countries. Read more

Friday, October 7, 2022

Kaufman Hall, Room 178
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Let’s Talk Climate Series – Facilitated Discussion

Warming in the Arctic: Why Do We Need to Care?

Ben Edwards, Dickinson College

The Arctic is a critical area to understand as a first glimpse of changes that will be coming as global warming starts having a larger impact on driving climate change. If melting of the Greenland ice sheet causes too much freshening of North Atlantic waters, many bad things could follow ecologically and climatologically. The geopolitical realm of the Arctic is also moving to the global stage, in part as a result of Russia’s international ambitions and their impacts on current and future (Sweden and Finland) NATO members. We will pick out a few critical natural components of the Arctic in this session (sea ice, permafrost, glaciers), and discuss how they will have increasingly direct impacts on geopolitics in the near future.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Center for Sustainability Education.  It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, The Arctic.

Visit Let’s Talk Climate for a full list of events in this series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Ben Edwards is Read more

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Poster for Political Prisoners eventAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Political Prisoners and Free Speech in Cuba

Jorge Olivera Castillo, City of Asylum     

Nancy Alfaya Hernandez, Activist & Artist

Castillo will discuss censorship in Cuba and share his experiences working both in government media and against it. He began to write literature as a political prisoner in Cuba’s Guantanamo Prison in 2003. He will speak about his experience in prison and solitary confinement. After the Ladies in White protest movement organized for release of Black Spring prisoners, he was released in 2004. He and his wife, Nancy Alfaya Hernandez, continued to work as activists for freedom and democracy in Cuba while facing repression from the political police. Castillo will give information about activists and artists working to bring freedom to Cubans and the risks they face. He will share about his new writings, including a book based on his experiences as a veteran of the Angolan Civil War at 19 years old. In addition, Castillo will read political poems in Spanish with English subtitles.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Spanish & Portuguese studies; and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean studies.

Read more