Past Programs

Isabel Franc, prize-winning lesbian novelist

Isabel Franc Poster

LGBT Rights in Spain: Writing and Social Change

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

What role can the writer play in bringing about social change? Franc, who grew up during the repressive dictatorship of Franco, addresses this question in the context of Spain’s gay and lesbian movement.

Topical Background
From the end of the Spanish Civil war in 1939 until 1975, Generalissimo Francisco Franco governed Spain autocratically, based on nationalism and traditionalism. As part of an imposed national unity, Spanish was the only official language, even though other languages were widely used in certain regions of the country. Censorship controlled every aspect of culture. Dissidents and opponents of the regime were imprisoned or they simply disappeared. During his rule, the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community was severely stifled. Not only was homosexuality illegal, but there were very few references to homosexuality in literature, cinema and music. Any references that did survive censorship were negative in tone. Despite this culture of oppression, a clandestine gay scene began to emerge in Barcelona in the 1960s.
Franco’s death in 1975 provided an impetus for drastic political and social change. Spain transitioned peacefully and relatively smoothly from Read more

Breaking Issue: Financial Meltdown

Financial Meltdown poster Monday, October 6, 2008 – 12:00 p.m.
Stern Center, Great Room

Teleconference presentations featuring financial experts associated with Dickinson College.

Panelists:
Michele Richardson ’85, Managing Director, Babson Capital Management
Brian Ruszczyk ’88, Managing Director, Latin America Investments, Citi Private Bank
Craig Weeks ’77, Managing Director, JP Morgan Chase Bank
Hance West, Investure (Dickinson College’s Investment Office)
Moderator: Annette Parker, Vice President and Treasurer, Dickinson College

Follow-up Discussion:
Monday, October 22, 2008 – 12:00 p.m.
Stern Center, Great Room

Panelists:
Jim Chambers ’78, Conundrum Capital Partners
Burt Sheaffer ’87, Sr Fx Options Trader, Bank of America
Jonathan Williams ’88, Investment Director, PNC Wealth Managment & Institutional Investments
Hance West, Investure (Dickinson College’s Investment Office)
Moderator: Tim Timura ’83, McGlinn Capital Read more

Michael Goldman

Associate Professor, University of Minnesota

Social Justice and Prosperity in a World City? Rethinking the ‘Flat World’ Thesis in Bangalore, India

Michael Goldman PosterThursday, October 2, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Topical Background
Bangalore, India has skyrocketed to prosperity in the global economy as a result of success and innovation in research and development (R&D).

The Indian city has been equated to the ‘Silicon Valley’ of California because of its surge in high-tech development. Numerous multinational Informational Technology (IT) firms are flocking to the region in an effort to outsource their IT services and generate products at a cheaper cost.

The Bangalore model is export-based and thrives on off-shore development directed at the United States firms and consumer markets. While it has created jobs and generated income to a certain extent, some argue that the Bangalore development model has not benefited the majority of the local population.

Has this prosperity led to equity in Bangalore, which was once the prototype of the global south? Are the bold new changes occurring in Bangalore, India improving the living conditions of the majority? Or has this development model simply exacerbated socio-economic divides in the city? Is the ‘Bangalore model’ — solving ‘megacity’ Read more

Prof. Richard J. Wilson

Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic, American University,

Washington College of Law

Guantanamo and the Nation’s Narrative: From Enemy Combatants to Lawfare

Rick Wilson PosterThursday, September 25, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

This presentation will explore the unique, complex and sometimes puzzling language and culture of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and its contribution to our understanding of war and the rule of law since it began operations in early 2002. This talk presents the perspective of a lawyer and law professor who has has visited and worked with detainee clients at Guantanamo regularly since 2004.

Topical Background
The War on Terror has yielded a number of questions regarding the law and conduct of war. One of the more contentious debates concerns the detention and treatment of those captured during these hostilities. The Geneva Conventions defines POWs and affords them certain rights. However, the Bush Administration has determined that those captured in the War on Terror do not fit this definition or the Conventions do not apply, and have therefore withheld these rights from detainees. As a result, detainees who deny ever fighting against the United States have been detained incommunicado for years at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Read more

Rear Admiral John Hutson and Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch

Rear Admiral John Hutson, dean and president, Franklin Pierce Law Center

Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, U.S. Marine Corps.

Keeping America Safe and Safeguarding American Values

Keeping America Safe PosterTuesday, September 23, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

“Continuing the Conversation” immediately following the program in Stern 102.

This panel will address the question of how we can fight terrorists and strengthen our security in ways that are strong and effective and consonant with our values and our Constitution.

Topical Background
Since the beginning of the human rights movement in the mid-twentieth century, advocates of human rights and national security experts have often been at odds with one another. The former support the inviobility of human rights, while the latter stress the necessity of national security protection.
In times of war, including the ongoing war on terrorism, a fundamental human right that often draws attention is the right to be free from torture. The Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and questions regarding detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have underlined the significance of this human right. Legal documents that are relevant to the issue of torture and abuse include the following:

&#8226Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Read more

Tom Gerety – "Constitution Day Address"

Collegiate Professor of law and humanities, New York University School of

Law

American Wars: Citizenship and Warmaking Responsibility in the Age of the Professional Army

Tom Gerety PosterWednesday, September 17, 2008
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7:00 p.m.

Topical Background
Politicians often stress the importance of “doing one’s civic duty” in a democracy. Historically, one of a citizen’s most important responsibilities in a democracy is to defend one’s own rights and the rights of others.

The professional American military created in the aftermath of the Vietnam War undercut the obligation of America’s youth to contribute to the nation’s defense. As of June 30, 2008, about 1,427,546 people serve full-time in the U.S. Armed Forces, an all-volunteer, professional standing military.

Youth disengagement is viewed as a growing problem in American society. The majority of young Americans do not vote, and far fewer join the armed forces. Does this detachment from civic life pose a problem for American society? How important is a common civic identity in our diverse society? Who holds the responsibility for warmaking if the current generation of American youth is uninterested in exercising their civic rights?

About the Speaker
Dr. Tom Gerety joined the faculty of the NYU School of Read more

Russia Resurgent? Crisis in the Caucasus

Panel Discussion

Russell Bova, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Dickinson College
Andrew Wolff, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Dickinson College
Craig Nation, Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies, US Army War College
Elena Aysakova, Russian State University for the Humanities
Neil Weissman, Provost and Dean, Dickinson College
Russell Bova, Moderator, Professor of Political Science and International Studies

Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:30 p.m.


Topical Background
In July 2008, conflict between Ossetian militia and Georgian armed forces boiled to a new high, causing Georgia to launch a surprise operation in order to seize control of South Ossetia. However, tension within Georgia began more than a decade ago in 1990 when Georgia abolished South Ossetia’s autonomy eventually resulting in ethnic fighting. When Georgia and Russia signed a peace treaty in 1992, Russian troops began patrolling the South Ossetia border. Over the years, Moscow has viewed itself as the protector of the enclave, which has been under pressure from the central government in Georgia.

On August 8, 2008 while countries around the world joined together in a display of unity during the Opening Ceremony of the 29th Olympic Read more

Debate: Should Pennsylvania Legalize Marijuana?

Allen St. Pierre,

Executive Director, NORML and the NORML Foundation

David Freed,

Cumberland County District Attorney

Professor Daniel Kenney,

Dickinson College, Moderator

Marijuana Poster
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Thousands of Pennsylvanians each year are arrested for possessing and using marijuana. Does this policy of jailing marijuana users make any sense? What are the reasons for this policy? What are the reasons against it? Our panelists will debate these issues prior to a general question-and-answer period.

“Continuing the Conversation”
Stern Center, Room 102 – immediately following the debate

Topical Background
The debate concerning the legality or illegality of marijuana use has been going on for at least 70 years. However, Starting in the 1970s, twelve states (AK, CA, CO, ME, MN, NE, NV, NY, NC, OH and OR) began to decriminalize marijuana for personal use. Despite this trend, Pennsylvania continues to incarcerate and fine people convicted of possessing and distributing marijuana. Currently in the United States, more people are arrested per year for marijuana-related crimes than for all violent crimes.

Why is it that although the possession of obscene materials in one’s own home can’t be prosecuted, the private possession and use of marijuana are still Read more

Kimberly Dozier

CBS News Correspondent injured in Iraq and author
Kimberly Dozier Poster

Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report – and Survive – the War in Iraq

Monday, April 21, 2008
7:00 p.m.- Stern Center, Great Room

Terrorism has made news reporting very dangerous. Reporters have become the targets of terrorist acts, where they once only stood next to targets. Being embedded has also made the role of correspondent more complex, raising such questions as which ‘side’ we’re on, whether we are legitimate targets when shadowing the military or insurgents, and the ethics of going on a raid to kill insurgents. Also, the ‘cable effect’ has made it more difficult to report a straight story because so many people now expect some sort of opinion, and cable television representatives openly criticize correspondents for anything they report.

Sponsored by Betty R.’58, and Dan Churchill and Penn State Dickinson School of Law

Issue in Context
From World War II to the Vietnam War and the first Persian Gulf War, reporters have been responsible for providing a connection between the battlefield and the American public. This connection was mediated by various means of communication from the telegraph, to the television and, finally, computers. The technological boom has facilitated Read more

The New Mediterranean Symposium

Thursday, April 3, 2008New Mediterranean Poster
Various Locations

Student Comments

Denisa Lazarescu ’08

Tahar Lamri
The Pilgrimage of the Voice
Award winning author and noted artist Tahar Lamri presented within the second part of the symposium the short story titled “The Pilgrimage of the Voice” which was interpreted in four different languages: standard Italian, as well as Mantovano, Romagnolo, and Venetian dialects. Sitting on the floor, surrounded by students and professors, Tahar Lamri read his story while accompanied by Cafe Mira lead singer, Reda Zine who played the gnawa, a Moroccan musical instrument resembling a lute. Trying to recreate the atmosphere of storytelling around a camp fire, Tahar Lamri and Reda’s spiritual music complemented and emphasized the story of the “The Pilgrimage of the Voice” which delves into the topic of languages and cultures blending and influencing one another across borders. The diverse musical and linguistic experience was meant to underscore the message that communication through storytelling, as the basis of many cultures, is the means to attaining tolerance and understanding among people across the world. As the story of Scheherazade and the “One Thousand and One Nights”, storytelling preserves life, forges bonds among people, ensures cultural progress, and, most importantly, fosters Read more

President Bill Clinton Campaigning for Hillary Clinton

Thursday, March 27, 2008 – 3:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.mClinton Poster
The Kline Athletic Center

Student Comments

Caitlin Rice

Former President Clinton did an excellent job of detailing what makes Hillary Clinton’s plans for America distinctive. On the event in general, I thought it was great to see so many people there and so excited–regardless of whether they were Democrat or Republican. Having former President Clinton speak on behalf of Hillary was an excellent opportunity as I feel it drew an open minded crowd.

Through this experience and leading the Dickinson Student for Hillary Group on campus, I have learned a great deal, not only about the logistics and politics of a campaign, but about how to communicate more effectively on many levels with peers and professionals. Some of Hillary’s young campaign workers have described being a “Clintonian” on a campus as if describing being a “punk rocker”! Senator Obama’s popularity permeates most college-aged youth, and I have been discovering better ways to engage the opposition in productive conversation about the seemingly slight differences between Obama and Clinton’s policies and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

For me, President Clinton’s visit was the opportunity of a lifetime to introduce the man Read more

Mark Alexander, Senior Advisor for Senator Barack Obama

Thursday, March 27, 2008 – 1:00 p.m.
Obama Poster
Stern Center, Great Room

Photos from the Program

Student Comments

Jonathan Roberts

Benjamin Rush and his colleagues understood that American democracy would only survive if its citizens were informed. By bringing representatives of the major candidates to campus, and allowing us to hear their arguments, we can make better-informed decisions about what is politically important to us. I think most Dickinsonians read the news and stay on top of what candidates are doing, but it’s rare that we have the chance to hear it straight from them. That’s unique, and an extraordinary opportunity, and I’m grateful to the College for organizing events like these.

James Liska

I felt that the visits from the Obama and Clinton campaigns demonstrated a high level of interest in this election, but in different ways relating to the different events. For example, President Clinton drew many townspeople and community members, but not predominantly students. The Mark Alexander event, however, featured primarily students. Some students I spoke with looked forward more to the Alexander event than the Clinton event. This gives us interesting insight into what drives the students and what interests students. Regardless, I feel that both events Read more

Cynthia Enloe

2007 Susan Strange Award Winner in International Studies, Clark University, Worcester, MACynthia Enloe poster

Morgan Lecture
Women and Men in the Iraq War: What Can a Feminist Curiosity Reveal?

Monday, March 24, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room

We are all inundated with news about the Iraq war, but too often the only women shown are mothers and wives weeping – without ever asking them what they think or what they now will do. By asking feminist questions about BOTH American and Iraqi women, about their own thoughts and their complex experiences, we are more likely to get a truly realistic understanding of men’s actions and of the causes and consequences of this war.

Issue in Context
Over the past two decades, feminist critics and practitioners have become an essential part of the discipline of international relations (IR). Feminist IR emerged in the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War brought about a re-evaluation of traditional IR theory which opened up a space for gendering international relations. Cynthia Enloe’s Bananas, Beaches and Bases (Pandora Press 1990) is one of the most influential publications in feminist IR. In this book, Enloe poses a simple question: What happens to our understanding Read more

Erika Doss

University of Notre DameErica Doss poster

Memorial Mania: Issues of Commemoration and Affect in Contemporary America

Thursday, March 20, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room

Concentrating especially on recent 9/11 memorials, war memorials, and on issues such as fear, terror, security, and tribute. This program considers how “memorial mania” has altered the style and substance of America’s contemporary public sphere and assumptions of national identity.

Issue in Context
Since the Revolutionary War, the building of American nationhood has involved the design and presentation of war memorials. The memorials that have been built to commemorate the sacrifices of soldiers from the Civil War to the Vietnam War have taken on new cultural orientations and styles. In the wake of 9/11, there has been great passion for memorial design, and heated disagreements about how to best honor those lost in the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Arguments about how to make use of the land that once held the great monuments of New York’s financial district represent a new generation of memorial mania. Professor Doss will address the influences of historical perspectives on the planning, organizing, and constructing of memorials. She will also discuss how fear, terror, security, and the explosion of Read more

Robert Cook-Deegan, M.D.

Duke UniversityGenomics Poster

Genomics and Intellectual Property: Life in the Information Jungle

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room

Controversies about gene patents and methods in genomics have led U.S. and international organizations to produce guidance about patenting and licensing genomic inventions. However, case studies show that patents are neither necessary nor sufficient for “some” kinds of genomic invention. The rich stories of genomic invention do not yield precise guides about optimal incentives for invention or to ensure broad and fair access to resulting goods and services.
The Clarke Forum Student Board generated this program.

Issue in Context
Since the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick, scientists have been experimenting with and modifying genes. As useful genes and gene fragments have developed, a market for these genes has emerged. Companies have invested and funded research to create desirable and useful genes. In order to protect their research investments, businesses have been granted patents for the genes they help create. Controversy regarding this practice of patenting living organisms emerged in 1980 with the Supreme Court Case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty. This case involved a scientist who sought to patent his Read more

Drinking Age Debate

Legal Age 21 after 23 Years: Has it Worked? Is it Working?

Drinking Age Debate Poster
Thursday, March 6, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Holland Union Building, Social Hall

John McCardell, Founder and Director, Choose Responsibility
Chuck Hurley ’67, Chief Executive Officer, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
Douglas Edlin, professor of political science, moderator

Link to NBC Nightly News Coverage of this program
Results from ballots passed out at the Drinking Age Debate Program:
57 People Voted for Lowering the Drinking Age to 18
28 People Voted for Keeping the Drinking Age at 21
(140 audience members – 85 ballots received)

The National Minimum Legal Drinking Age Act (NMLDA)has now been on the books for almost 24 years. During that time, we have had the opportunity to observe, measure, and experience its effects. Like most laws, the NMLDA has intended and unintended consequences. The purpose of this program is to explore those consequences in as serious, informed, dispassionate, and comprehensive a way possible, and to consider whether any change in the law, or any reorientation of public policy is warranted. This debate involves statistics, probabilities, charts, formulae, and tables. It also involves human lives. Every life lost to alcohol, in whatever setting, is lamentable, tragic. Read more

Stephen Adler

Editor-in-Chief, BusinessWeek MagazineAdler Poster

Rush Award Lecture
The Future of Media

Thursday, February 28, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room

This program will focus on how technology, law, and new consumer habits are changing the way we learn about the world, and what these changes will do to the way we live, work, and choose our leaders.

Issue in Context
Today, much of how we communicate is digitized. E-mail allows people who are often many miles apart to exchange news instantly. Instant messaging and video conferencing allows people to talk in real-time through their internet connection. Until very recently, the best mode of world-wide communication in real-time was a telephone call that was very expensive; but as the costs have dropped drastically over the past two decades, it is not unusual for elementary school children to have personal cell phones so that their parents can contact them directly any time. Before the telephone, a common method of contact was handwritten correspondence through what we now refer to as “snail mail.”
With electronic media available to increasing numbers of citizens around the world, how do people receive breaking news and crucial information? Important television news reports are broadcast live across Read more

Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship

Thursday, February 21 – 7:00 p.m.Microfinance Poster
Stern Center, Great Room

Hans Dellien, Women’s World Banking
Camilla Nestor, The Grameen Foundation
Benjamin Powell, Agora Partnerships
Craig Weeks ’77, J. P. Morgan Chase (moderator)

Microfinance, the provision of small-scale loans to enterprising individuals in developing countries came into being in the latter half of the 1900s. Two organizations currently involved in channeling those types of financial resources are the Grameen Foundation and Women’s World Banking. Social entrepreneurship, represented by Agora Partnerships, developed somewhat later. Over the past two decades, the revolution in information technology and competition in the “development space” have led to much change in both microfinance and social entrepreneurship.

Careers in Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship
HUB, Social Hall West – 3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Students are encouraged to attend. To register, visit www.dickinsonconnect.com.

Issue in Context
Microfinance consists of extending financial services to individuals, usually women, to establish or expand a small, self-sustaining business. One of the components of microfinance is microcredit – the extension of small loans to individuals who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Microfinance institutions often offer business advice and counseling, and facilitate peer support between clients Read more

Transnational Gender and Sexuality Symposium

Thursday, February 14, 2008Transnational Poster
Various Times
Stern Center, Great Room

This one-day symposium offers perspectives from three scholars critically exploring sexuality and gender identities in relation to shifting cultural and national boundaries.

10:30 a.m. – Denise Brennan, Georgetown University
Love Work and Sex Work in the Dominican Republic
Suggested Readings:
1. Nicole Constable’s book: Romance on A Global Stage
2. Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild’s edited volume: Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy
3. Carla Freeman’s book: High Tech and High Heels in the Global Economy
4. Faye Ginsburg and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s edited volume: Uncertain Terms: Negotiating Gender in American Culture
5. What’s Love Got to Do with It? Transnational Desires and Sex, by Denise Brennan
1:00 p.m. – France Winddance Twine, University of California, Santa Barbara

Written on the Body: Hair and Heritage in Black Europe

2:30 p.m. – Karen Kelsky, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The Personal is Personal: Predicaments of the Lesbian Feminist Subject in Japan.

4:30 p.m. – Panel Discussion

The panel will explore such questions as: How does transnationalism affect cultural reproduction in intimate areas, such as family relations (husband-wife, parent-child), inter-generational ethnic relations, and the sphere defined as

Read more

Cindi Katz

City University of New York, Graduate CenterKatz Poster

Writing on the Wall: From Disaster to Doing Something

Thursday, February 7, 2008
7:00 p.m. – Holland Union Building, Social Hall

Hurricane Katrina scoured the political economic landscape of New Orleans revealing the toll of decades of disinvestment in and ‘hostile privatism’ toward social reproduction in a city riddled with corrosive inequalities around class, race, and gender. Business and government have failed to address the social and economic needs of poor and working people in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. The toll can be seen in the unevenness of neighborhood and infrastructural recovery, the difficulty of establishing a stable workforce of residents, and the deepening of ongoing neoliberal tendencies toward privatization in education, healthcare, and housing. Focusing on these issues, we will look at the sorts of activism these failures have spurred. The discussion will center on community based political groups working to redress this situation in New Orleans, but will also connect their work to groups working elsewhere to draw out a ‘countertopography’ of activisms that interrogate the underlying politics and policies–explicit and implicit–that have undermind the social wage and produced this situation not just in New Orleans but all Read more