Past Programs

Guillermo Meneses

El Colegio de al Frontera Norte, Tijuana

The “Fence”: The View from Tijuana

Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

The United States is building one, two, three or more walls and “other obstacles” in the southwest border. Customs and Border Protection claim, “New dangers face the borders of our nation.” Terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal immigrants are waiting to cross the border.
Co-sponsored by the Departments of Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese.

Topical Background
Founded in 1982, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, or “The College of the Northern Border,” serves as both an institute of higher education and a prominent think tank. With headquarters in Tijuana, Mexico, the institution has branches throughout Mexico in Monterrey, Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali, Nogales, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros. Its mission is threefold:

1.Study and divulge the significance of regional issues occurring in the U.S.-Mexico border

2.Train students and staff to excel as professionals and researchers

3.Maintain close links with civil society and government to contribute to the development of the region and the country

In the classroom, students at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte learn extensively about issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border in six different Read more

Judge Richard J. Leon

U.S. District Court Judge, Washington, D.C.

Guantanamo: Constitutional Challenges

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

* This event is part of the Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

As the first federal judge to conduct habeas corpus proceedings to determine the lawfulness of the detention of the Guantanamo detainees, Judge Leon had to confront many practical and legal challenges as he tried to strike the proper balance between liberty and national security.

Topical Background

September 2001: Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress passes The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)
This resolution grants the executive branch power to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against those associated with terrorism, particularly those related to the September 11 attacks.

January 2002: United States opens detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay
The Bush administration argues the camp falls outside of U.S. legal jurisdiction, and the detainees, known as “enemy combatants,” are not protected by the Geneva Convention.

June 2004: Supreme Court decides Rasul v. Bush
Supreme Court declares that habeas corpus rights (the right to claim wrongful imprisonment) apply to Guantanamo detainees because the United States has “complete jurisdiction” of Guantanamo Bay.

June 2004: Read more

Women, Equality and Education

Monday, March 8, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

A panel of international students from Dickinson College will join Muska Assad, a recipient of a scholarship from the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women (IEAW), in a discussion of women, gender equality and education. This event is in observance of International Women’s Day which was created to commemorate the accomplishments of women and celebrate the fight for women’s equality.

This event is co-sponsored by the Women’s Center and Betty R. ’58 and Dan Churchill.

Topical Background
International Women’s Day (IWD) was first celebrated by the Socialist Party of America in 1909. Two years later, it was officially honored in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. For the next several decades, women across the globe rallied together each March to demand voting rights, better pay, and equality. Although it was initiated by a socialist movement, International Women’s Day slowly developed into a world-wide celebration of women, serving as a forum to recognize the continued struggle for parity. In 1977, the United Nations officially designated March 8 International Women’s Day. Today more than 15 countries have made March 8th a national holiday. This year, the United Nation’s theme for IWD is “Equal Read more

Neil Printz

Art Historian, co-editor of the Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné

Andy Warhol: Post-Pop or Not?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 4:00 p.m.

Printz considers Warhol’s work after the 1960s in light of photographs and the works of art recently donated to Dickinson College by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Photographic Legacy Program.

This event is co-sponsored by The Trout Gallery.

Topical Background
Born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928, Andy Warhol became one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Known mainly as a leading figure in the Pop Art movement, Warhol is also recognized for his work as an avant-garde film maker, record producer, author, and public figure. By the time of his death in 1987, Warhol coined the popular phrase “15 minutes of fame,” sold his canvas Eight Elvises for $100 million dollars, and was identified by the media as the “Prince of Pop.”

Warhol showed early artistic talent at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, known today as Carnegie Mellon University. He then worked in New York as an illustrator for various magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Glamour, and The New Yorker. As Warhol became more concerned with turning his Read more

Dallas Burtraw

Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future

Next Steps in U.S. Climate Policy: Winners, Losers and Innovations in Policy Design

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

* This event is part of the Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

After the international climate meetings in Copenhagen, the eyes of the world rest on the U.S. and its progress towards meeting its goals for achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The leading proposal in the U.S. is a market-based cap-and-trade program, but there are a variety of approaches in designing such a program. These alternatives have very different implications for the overall cost of climate policy, and perhaps more importantly, who bears that cost.

Economists argue that cap and trade can achieve environmental goals at much less cost than traditional regulatory approaches. However, the asset value of the tradable “emissions allowances” that are introduced under cap and trade would constitute one of the largest commodity markets in the world. How these allowances are distributed – free distribution, or distribution through an auction – will have enormous implications for the efficiency and distributional impact of the policy, and ultimately on the nation’s willingness to move Read more

Rebecca Skloot

Award-winning science writer; professor of English, University of Memphis

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m

Rebecca Skloot discusses her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a story inextricably linked to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles that could determine whether we own the stuff we are made of. A booksigning will follow the presentation.

Co-sponsored by the Departments of Biology, Sociology and Psychology

Topical Background
Born in 1920, Henrietta Lacks, a mother of five, was a native of rural southern Virginia whose family grew tobacco. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital and died on October 4, 1951 at the age of thirty-one.

While at Johns Hopkins Hospital, researchers took a biopsy of her tumor without her knowledge or permission. The cells, named “HeLa” for Henrietta Lacks, multiplied outside her body at an unprecedented rate. Because they can potentially divide an unlimited number of times in a laboratory setting, HeLa cells have been described as “immortal”. “If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh Read more

Leonard Cassuto

Professor of English, Fordham University

What’s in a Bestselling Crime Novel?

Thursday, February 11, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

After exploring the origins and complexities of “bestsellers,” Cassuto applies his conclusions to the way crime novels are read and understood in the U.S.

Co-sponsored by the Departments of English and American Studies

Topical Background
The broad genre of “crime fiction” first captured the American imagination in the mid-19th century. Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” published in 1841, told of a dark mystery based in Paris. Its protagonist, C. Auguste Duperin, appears to be one of the first characters resembling what would come to be the archetypical crime fiction detective.

Soon after Poe’s works hit the literary world, Britain’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned the detective novel into a phenomenon. The popularity of his Sherlock Holmes anthology transcended the Atlantic and sparked an enormous production of crime and detective novels. Crime fiction quickly became one of America’s favorite literary genres.

New categories of crime fiction are popularized with each generation of crime novelists. “Whodunits,” “hardboiled” fiction, legal thrillers, police mysteries, and spy novels are just a few of the many types of crime Read more

Arlene Dávila

Professor of anthropology and American studies, New York University

Shop ‘Til You Drop in Puerto Rico?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Dávila will explore the consumption culture of Puerto Rico, in particular, the myth of the overspent Puerto Rican consumer.

Co-sponsored by the Departments of American Studies, Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese.

Topical Background
Shortly after Columbus visited Puerto Rico, Spain colonized the island and established it as an important military and trading post. Soon thereafter, colonists began to coerce natives into a system of forced labor that was slavery in all but name. Sugar quickly became the most important agricultural product. Although the system of forced labor was formally abolished in 1720, sugar remained a significant export for Puerto Rico, along with cattle, tobacco and coffee.

During the 19th century, Puerto Ricans were clamoring for independence. In response, Spain conceded political and administrative autonomy to the Puerto Rican Autonomous Party in 1887. However, after the Mexican War, the Treaty of Paris called for the transfer of Puerto Rico’s sovereignty to the United States. At this time, Puerto Rico and the United States enjoyed a free trade relationship. In 1917, President Wilson signed Read more

Art Spiegelman – "Morgan Lecturer"

Pulitzer Prize-winning artist/illustrator; author of Maus

Comix 101.1

Thursday, February 4, 2010
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Through a chronological tour of the evolution of comics, this Pulitzer Prize-winning artist/illustrator explains the value of this medium and why it should not be ignored.

The event is Dickinson College’s annual Morgan Lecture in honor of James Henry Morgan, professor of Greek, dean, and president of the college.

Co-sponsored by The Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life, The Trout Gallery, Women’s Center, the Office of Institutional and Diversity Initiatives, and the Departments of Political Science, English, German, Judaic Studies, Art and Art History, History, Sociology, and Film Studies.

Topical Background
Comics are a graphic medium in which images are used to convey a sequential narrative. The term “comics” arose because the medium was at first used primarily for comedic intent. Today the term is applied to all uses of the medium, including those which are far from comic. The sequential nature of the pictures and the predominance of pictures over words distinguish comics from picture books, though there is some overlap between the two media. Different conventions have developed around the globe, from the manga of Japan to the manhua Read more

Thomas Boellstorff

Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California and Editor-in-Chief, American Anthropologist

Virtual Popular Culture

Monday, Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Virtual worlds represent an important new modality of human interaction. The discussion will focus on emerging forms of popular culture in virtual worlds, the promise of ethnographic methods for studying these emerging forms of popular culture, and the broad social implications of their emergence.

Topical Background
A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment inhabited by avatars. Avatars are computer users’ representations of themselves or alter egos in the form of a three dimensional model, a two dimensional icon, or a text construct. Communications between users range from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, and sound. Multiplayer online games commonly represent a world very similar to the real world. However, virtual worlds are not limited to games; they can encompass computer conferencing and text-based chat rooms. Persons who interact and forge new forms of selfhood and society in virtual worlds are creating a virtual culture.

One of the earliest virtual world experiences can be traced back to 1968 when the first virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display system was invented at Massachusetts Institute Read more

Reflecting on Greek Life at Dickinson

Thursday, November 19, 2009
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Relying on a local targeted survey of Dickinson Greek and non-Greek students, Ann Hanson, former dean of student affairs, Middlebury College, will lead a moment of reflection on the positive and negative consequences of Greek Life on the Dickinson community. The goal is to promote discussion and dialogue on a significant dimension of the Dickinson experience.

This program was created by The Clarke Forum Student Board.

Co-sponsored by the Division of Student Development.

Topical Background
The importance of Greek Life on college campuses is a hotly contested issue nationwide. Some argue that fraternities and sororities are time-honored traditions that foster friendship, leadership, and service, while others feel that Greek Life is an outdated social structure that detracts from college life today. This debate is very much dependent on the campus climate that is unique to each individual college campus. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize whether Greek Life is a positive or a negative factor without first examining its unique influence on specific college campuses.

At Dickinson, “The Greek community is advised by the Dean of Students Office. Fraternities are governed by the Interfraternity Council (originally established in 1859) Read more

William Greenlee – "Rush Award"

President and CEO of The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences

Building Intellectual Bridges

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

This is event is part of The Clarke Forum’s “Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty” series

The goal of research and scholarship is the pursuit of new knowledge. That pursuit expands the intellectual endowment, but without a purpose and plan for the endowment’s use, new knowledge does not benefit society as much as it could. Scholars must take a leading role in the translation of discoveries and new knowledge into products, policies, and guidance for the benefit of all.

Benjamin Rush Award
The Benjamin Rush Award Ceremony recognizes outstanding achievement by a member of the business or government community. The individual accepting the award presents a public lecture addressing the relationship of a liberal arts education to the business or government world. Opportunities for members of the College community to converse and discuss issues with the award recipient occur while the recipient is on the campus. Click here for listing of past recipients.

Topical Background
The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences is an independent, nonprofit organization that unites academia, the private sector, and government in the conduct Read more

Beyond the Wall

Panel Discussion on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world watched and celebrated. After the jubilation subsided, questions and concerns arose as to the global and European political, social, and cultural consequences of this major event. A panel of three experts will discuss how this historical event transformed our view of Germany, Europe, and the world.

Panelists
Andrew Wolff, moderator, Political Science Department, Dickinson College
Jana Simon, journalist and writer, Die Zeit newspaper in Berlin
Wolfgang Muller, German Department, Dickinson College
Alan Stolberg, European Studies, U.S. Army War College

Co-sponsored by the Department of History, the Max Kade Foundation and Betty R. ’58 and Dan Churchill.

Topical Background
For nearly thirty years, the Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War’s division of communist East Germany from democratic West Germany and the larger divide of Eastern from Western Europe. First erected in August of 1961 by the Soviet-occupied German Democratic Republic (GDR), the wall was built to prevent East Germans from immigrating to West Germany, which offered more economic freedom and personal independence. Over the years, Read more

COLBY: The Rise and Fall of an American Spy

Test Screening of the Documentary

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Colby is a feature-length documentary on the life of legendary spymaster and CIA Director William Colby, told through the eyes of his Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker son, Carl and Colby’s wife Barbara. The films tells the story of the consummate American soldier and spy who always followed orders and took on the toughest assignments until the President ordered him to “stonewall” Congress and CIA’s past and he refused. The story reveals why for once he could not obey an order.

Carl Colby will be available to answer questions at the end of the presentation.

Audience members will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire at the conclusion of the screening. Read more

Marilyn Wann

Author, Editor, and Activist

The Real F-Word: FAT

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Marilyn Wann offers a funny and engaging discussion of what it currently means to be fat or thin, the impact of such messages, and a revolutionary new alternative for how we should live in and think about our bodies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)
Marilyn Wann is a fat civil rights activist. She published a print ‘zine in the mid-90s called FAT!SO? and later wrote a book of the same name. Wann was centrally involved in successful passage of San Francisco’s height-weight anti-discrimination law in 2000 and lobbies for similar laws elsewhere. She has performed with several fat-positive groups: Marilyn splashed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” as part of the Padded Lilies synchro swim team; shook pompoms with the Bod Squad cheerleaders who oppose weight-loss surgery; and danced with the Phat Fly Girls hip hop troupe, a Big Moves project.

Video of the Program

Former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Former Governor of Pennsylvania

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 5:00 p.m.

The annual Constitution Day Address was established by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues in 1995. Each year a prominent public figure is invited to speak at Dickinson College on contemporary issues as they relate to the constitution.

A reception will follow the lecture from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Holland Union Building.
Letter of invitation or Dickinson ID required.

Constitution Day
“Constitution and Citizenship Day” is normally celebrated every September 17, the day that the United States Constitution was ratified in 1787. It is intended to commemorate the signing of the Constitution and celebrate the founding ideals of the United States. The idea for Constitution Day began in 1939, when newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst advocated for the creation of a holiday to celebrate citizenship. In 1940, the United States Senate passed a resolution to designate the third Sunday in May as “I am an American Day.” In 1952, President Harry Truman changed the name of the holiday to “Citizenship Day” and moved the date to September 17. A Read more

Sharalyn Orbaugh

Professor of Asian studies and women’s & gender studies, University of British Columbia

Why are Japanese Cyborgs Always Female?

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

In the robot, android or cyborg body, sex and gender are constructed and unnecessary rather than biological and functional; nonetheless, most depictions of such post-human entities retain gender and sex markers. This presentation explores the reasons behind this phenomenon in recent Japanese anime films, such as Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis.

Co-sponsored by the Department of East Asian Studies

Topical Background
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a cyborg is “a person whose physical tolerances or capabilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by a machine or other external agency that modifies the body’s functioning.”

The idea of the technologically enhanced human has been prevalent in fiction since Edgar Allen Poe wrote of the prosthetic General John A.B.C. Smith in his 1839 short story, “The Man that was Used Up.” Darth Vader, the Terminator, and The Six Million Dollar Man are just a few of the cyborgs that have entered American popular culture. In Japan, cyborgs frequently appear in animated works.
Japanese animation usually depicts cyborgs as female. In the cyborg body, Read more

Recession or Depression? What’s Next for the Economy

A Panel Discussion

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:30 p.m.

In late 2008, many analysts referred to the downturn of the U.S. economy as the worst crisis since the Great Depression. A panel of experts affiliated with Dickinson College will assess the rationale and effectiveness of government policies implemented over the past year as a response to the downturn and will speculate about the future prospects for the U.S. economy.

Information about the Panelists
Chris Rugaber ’90 is a reporter & economics writer for The Associated Press, the largest and oldest news agency in America. He graduated from Dickinson College and received a master’s degree in political science from American University.
Mark Burgess ’81 is currently the CFO from Graham Packaging in York, PA. Prior to joining Graham, Mr. Burgess served as president and CEO, as well as CFO, of Anchor Glass Container Corporation. He holds a B.A. in economics from Dickinson College and an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Michele Mahoney Richardson ’85 is the managing director at Babson Capital Management. Babson Capital Management serves as an investment advisor or financier to a broad range of institutional investors in the U.S. Read more

Living with the Wall

Panel Discussion on the
Twentieth Anniversary of the
Fall of the Berlin Wall

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

For close to thirty years a wall separated East from West Berlin. Members of Dickinson College and the broader community who experienced life in Berlin during this time will discuss how the period’s experiences affected their personal and professional lives.

Panelists
Bernard Griffard, professor of strategic logistics, Center for Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College
Axel Hildebrandt, assistant professor of German, Moravian College
Richard Lacquement, professor of military strategy, Department of National Security and Strategy, U.S. Army War College
Susan Myers, professor of distance education, Department of Distance Education, U.S. Army War College
R. Craig Nation, director of Eurasian studies, Department of National Security and Strategy, U.S. Army War College
Antje Pfannkuchen, instructor in German, Dickinson College
Sarah McGaughey (Moderator), assistant professor of German, Dickinson College

Topical Background
Following World War II, the Allied Powers divided Germany into four occupation zones. In 1949, the Soviet Union declared its occupation zone the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which quickly became known as East Germany. Over the next decade, hundreds of thousands of Read more

Myra Donnelley

Representative of Brave New Films

Subaltern-ate Media: Brave New Films’ ‘trickle up theory’ of Mass-roots Communications

Friday, October 16, 2009
The Weiss Center, Rubendall Recital Hall, 11:30 a.m.

The Clarke Forum and the Literature/Film Association are sponsoring a presentation by Myra Donnelley of Brave New Films. Brave New Films is perhaps best known for “Walmart,” which played on campus a couple of years ago; they have also produced “Sick for Profit” and “Move On: the Movie.” Their most recent film, “Rethink Afghanistan,” just opened in New York.

Brave New Films has pioneered video activism in all manner of venues on the internet as well as in movie theaters. As The Nation reports, the organization “has created a quick-strike capability that challenges corporate media with the truth and empowers political action nationwide.” Read more