Events

Afghanistan Beyond the Burqa

Thursday, November 9, 2006
Afghanistan Beyond the Burqa
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Afghanistan Beyond Burqa
Issue in Context
A free and compulsory education is viewed by many as one of the most fundamental of all human rights. However, at least 125 million worldwide children are denied basic education and one in three adults remain illiterate, according to the Global Campaign for Education.

Under the Taliban, basic education declined between 1996 and 2001, causing an increased percentage of illiteracy and low rate of school attendance. School curriculum was restricted, schools were destroyed and female education was banned. The government closed all of the girls’ schools in the country and prevented female teachers from working. Some girls were secretly educated in their homes by parents and teachers, others attended underground schools. In 2000, UNICEF reported that only 4% to 5% of Afghan children were being educated at the primary school level. Fewer had access to secondary and university education. By 2001, Afghanistan possessed one of the worst educational records in the world.

Since the Taliban fell from power in 2001, international efforts led by numerous countries negotiated an aid package of $4.5 billion to help rebuild Afghanistan. More than a million attend school Read more

Women Confronting Globalization

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Women Confronting Globalization
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Women Globalization

Issue in Context
Ninety percent of Mexico ‘s potable water comes from Chiapas, but many communities have no access to fresh water. Similarly, Chiapas is Mexico’s top producer of hydroelectric energy and a major producer of natural fuels, and yet most of Chiapas ‘ indigenous people live without electricity. The Zapatistas, a largely non-violent revolutionary group struggling for the autonomy of indigenous people, has spent the last two decades raising awareness of local conditions domestically and internationally. Early in the Zapatista’s history, women joined the ranks and many rose to leadership positions, eventually creating the “Revolutionary Laws of Women,” which explicitly provided for equal rights for women in Zapatista-controlled areas. While the government has made changes in Chiapas, the region still suffers.

About the Speaker
Gabriela Martinez is a sociologist, activist, and researcher who worked with the Center of Political Analysis and Social and Economic Research in Chiapas, Mexico. Martinez has focused her studies and community work on the collective rights of indigenous communities, liberation theology, and fair trade and women’s cooperatives.

Celeste Escobar will translate for Martinez at this event. Escobar, originally from Paraguay , Read more

From Wiseguys to Wise Men: Masculinities and the Italian American Gangster Figure

Thursday, November 2, 2006
From Wiseguys to Wise Men: Masculinities and the Italian American Gangster Figure
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Wiseguys to Wisemen
Issue in Context
What does one associate with an Italian-American: pasta, large families, nice clothes, masculine men, and the mafia? These are some of the common stereotypes Americans have had about Italians living in the United States since they began arriving in the late 19 th century. Violence, sexism, machismo, overt sexuality and an obsession with abundance have characterized the persona of the Italian-American gangsters of yesterday in films such as The Godfather or Goodfellas. Represented as highly physical, the images of Italian men have helped construct what it meant to be an American man. The “wiseguy” character expresses both the experience of Italian immigrants and native fantasies that reveal the culture of American race, gender, and ethnicity. The wiseguy figure can be interpreted as a “trickster” character long employed as a metaphor in American literature to serve as a model of improper behavior.

About the Speaker
Fred Gardaphe is the director of the American and Italian American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He teaches courses in Italian American history and Read more

The Plain People of Pennsylvania

Wednesday, November 1, 2006
The Plain People of Pennsylvania
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Plain people

Issue in Context
Early this fall, the murder of five students in an Amish schoolhouse thrust a community and its culture into the international media spotlight and sent shockwaves through the Pennsylvania communities that had for so long coexisted with these peaceful people. Despite our vicinity to this culture, there is little understanding of these people who are known for their conservative dress and restricted use of modern technologies, such as electricity and cars.

About the Speaker
Donald B. Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. Kraybill has also served as Provost at Messiah College. Nationally recognized for his scholarship on Anabaptist groups, Kraybill is the author or editor of over 18 books and dozens of professional articles. His books have been translated into six different languages. His research on Anabaptist groups has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and on radio and television programs across the United States and in many foreign countries, including Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Australia, and Japan. He received the National Religious Book Award for The Read more

Venezuela’s PetroPolitics: Democracy over a Barrel

Monday, October 30, 2006
Venezuela’s PetroPolitics: Democracy over a Barrel
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 P.M.

Venezuela's Petropolitics

Issue in Context
Home of the fifth largest oil industry in the world, Venezuela has gained increasing economic and political clout in the midst of a global scarcity of oil. Venezuela’s oil policy has polarized the country’s domestic politics, culminating in the 2002 coup that nearly removed its populist president, Hugo Chavez, from office. In addition to triggering intense public debate on the home front, Venezuela’s oil politics and its effects on the country’s domestic and foreign relations have alarmed governments around the world. Despite criticism from the U.S. administration and oil CEOs, Chavez has utilized his country’s oil revenues to promote his idea of democratic socialism by creating a vast array of social programs that have boosted his popularity among Venezuelans. Chavez has also allocated oil revenues to fund an aggressive diplomatic agenda. In light of an upsurge in global terrorism, oil policy in Venezuela has dramatically transformed the country’s position in the sphere of global politics, as world leaders have linked Chavez’s actions to broader questions of national security. Pat Robertson’s controversial request that the U.S. administration “take out” Chavez demonstrates the Read more

Ending Impunity: Seeking Justice for the Murder of My Brother in Pinchet's Chile

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Ending Impunity: Seeking Justice for the Murder of My Brother in Pinochet’s Chile
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Chili Poster
Issue in Context
In the Chilean presidential election of 1970, Salvador Allende, running for the socialist-leaning coalition, Unidad Popular (Popular Unity), defeated the sitting president. He won a narrow plurality of 36.2 percent to 34.9 percent of the vote over the former president. In conjunction with members of Chile’s conservative wing, the United States government, particularly the CIA, helped engineer a coup twelve days before Allende’s inauguration. In a failed kidnaping attempt, General René Schneider, Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army, was assassinated by rightists. Ironically, this unpopular action only helped end military opposition against Allende. The president would remain ostensibly unchallenged for the next three years. On September 11, 1973, Augusto Pinochet led a bloody coup d’etat against then President Allende. The brutality of the immediate aftermath would portend the brutality of years to come. American freelance journalist Charles Horman and Chilean folk-singer Victor Jara were among the many tortured and killed in the days following the coup. Over the next month and a half, the infamous Caravan of Death, a Chilean army squad, Read more

Cancer: the Cost of Cure

Thursday, October 5, 2006
Cancer: the Cost of Cure
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.
Cancer

Issue in Context
With medical care costs around the country soaring, it is no surprise that cancer drugs are doing the same. However the price increases of pharmaceuticals are not uniform. Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, produced a report indicating that the cost of a prescription for cancer treatment drugs rose 16% last year, while other prescription costs rose only 3%. Marcia Angell, faculty member at Harvard Medical School and former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that these costs are “really exploiting the desperation of people with a life-threatening illness.” Yet if simply treating cancers costs this much, how much would it cost to find cures? If cures are possible, who should pay the billions it may take to find them?

About the Speaker
The speaker and Metzger-Conway Fellow, Dr. Michael Weiner, is a Dickinson College alumnus who received his medical degree from the State University of New York Health Sciences Center. After completing his postgraduate training at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York University and the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, he Read more

Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels: Energetic and Environmental Issues

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels: Energetic and Environmental Issues
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels
Issue in Context
Though the U.S. has less than 4% of the world’s population, it is responsible for 22% of the carbon dioxide released worldwide from the burning of fossil fuels. The release of carbon dioxide is the greatest contributor to global warming. The high energy usage of the United States makes alternative energy sources essential in reserving the pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. Ethanol, an energy source derived from corn, soybeans, and switch grass, has been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuel. However, the production of ethanol requires a lot of energy – through farming and harvesting to deriving ethanol. The fuel used to produce it may be more than the energy it provides.

About the Speaker
David Pimentel is a professor of Ecology and Agricultural Science at Cornell University . His research includes population ecology, biological control, biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, land and water conservation, and environmental policy. Pimentel has served on many national and government committees including the National Academy of Sciences, the President’s Science Advisory Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. State Department. Read more

Sacrifice and Victory: The History and Now of Sacrifice and Victory for Human Rights

Thursday, September 28, 2006
Sacrifice and Victory: The History and Now of Sacrifice and Victory for Human Rights
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Sacrifice & Victory
Issue in Context
Throughout the past century, there have been many struggles and subsequent victories for human and worker rights. From the 19th century struggle to abolish slavery to the current struggles of stadium workers at Camden Yards in Baltimore, many tactics and personal sacrifices have been integral for bringing about positive change for workers. The 2005 hunger strike of the Immokalee Workers against Taco Bell with a grueling four year legal battle finally resulted in Taco Bell’s acceptance of the worker’s demands for a penny a pound increase in the price paid for tomatoes. Taco Bell also pledged to work with the workers to improve wages and working conditions for farm workers in the Florida tomato industry. Without the tireless efforts of the workers, Florida tomato pickers, who are some of America’s lowest paid workers, would still be living far below the poverty line.

At Camden Yards, Baltimore’s baseball stadium, dozens of workers never received payment for an entire month of work. While those responsible for this were fired, it was simply the latest event Read more

Research Protection vs. Research Promotion

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Research Protection vs. Research Promotion
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Research Protection vs. Research Promotion

Issue in Context
The basis of all science lies in repeatable experiments that yield evidentiary results for or against a hypothesis. The only way to obtain relevant results about human response is to utilize human subjects in the experiment. However, doing experiments with human subjects instigates a deluge of complications. The demand for better regulation of human research experiments began with the Nuremburg Code after the Nazi exploitation of unconsenting prisoners of concentration camps. Now Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) carefully examine every step of the research process, from experiment design to the relevance of the potential findings to selecting human subjects. These boards, established by the US Department Health, Education and Welfare, are responsible for determining and preserving the fine line between sufficiently protecting research subjects and unnecessarily hindering research processes.

About the Speaker
Marjorie A. Speers, Ph.D is the current executive director of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP). From 1999 to 2001 she was acting Executive Director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. She also managed the development of a report on the research oversight system, “Ethical and Read more

The Roberts Court: The Past as Prologue to the Future

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The Roberts Court: The Past as Prologue to the Future
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Roberts Court
Issue in Context
Constitutional law focuses predominantly on conflicts surrounding peoples’ individual rights. The issues of abortion and gay marriage are particularly fervent disputes today. However, our Constitution affects far more than social issues. The changing politics, strategies, and technology of warfare, especially since the attacks of September 11, 2001 have greatly affected how our Constitution is interpreted, and perhaps more importantly, how the rest of the world follows this interpretation. As soldiers, or rather “enemy combatants,” are captured, situations may and have arisen in which our Constitutional rights apply to them, especially if they are citizens of the U.S. Although some believe that members of the Supreme Court should act mechanically in their interpretation of the law, the idea of a mechanical interpretation is impossible as interpretation is not based on facts. Thus, the members of the Court will always affect the decision reached.
About the Speaker
Professor Fried was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1935 and became a United States citizen in 1948. He served as a law clerk to Justice John Marshall Harlan, as a special assistant Read more

Mideast in Crisis: Israel and Lebanon

Thursday, September 7, 2006
Mideast in Crisis: Israel and Lebanon
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Mideast in Crisis
Fawaz A. Gerges, professor International and Middle Eastern Studies, Sarah Lawrence College; Larry P. Goodson, professor of Middle East studies, United States Army War College. A discussion of the recent and historical conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, its effects on Lebanon and its implications for United States policy.
Co-sponsored by the Asbell Center for Jewish Life and the United States Army War College. Read more

The Making of Memories

Thursday, March 27, 2006
Common Hour
The Making of Memories
Weiss Center, Rubendall Recital Hall, 12:00 p.m.

Issue in Context
Memory is an essential quality of being human. Our individual and collective sense of identity depends on the workings of memory. Until recently, memory was studied largely as an aspect of philosophy. Modern technological advances make it possible for neurologists to examine memory’s biological operations, including long-term potentiation, (LTP). LTP occurs when one nerve cell stimulated by another, remembers the stimulation, and forms a cellular bond. This transformation of the nerve cell is essential to the storage of memory. The brain contains over 100 billion nerve cells, each with thousands of synapses. Whenever a memory is formed, some of these synapses change. As they are continually stimulated their surfaces are permanently altered forming connection points with other nerve cells. These contact points are the foundation for the contact and chemical alterations in the nerve cells that serve as memory units.

Cultural memory is a facet of every society. It is passed down collectively through generations, preserved in forms such as theatre, arts, literature, music and ritual. As an illustration of cultural memory, this event presents music and text from a Read more

Here, Bullet

Monday, April 10, 2006
Here, Bullet
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Here Bullet
Issue in Context
A majority of the poems in Here, Bullet were written during Turner’s one-year tour in Iraq and reflect the struggle to understand his place in the War and the world. This first-hand account of the War in Iraq stands as a powerful witness to the actual events of the War. The poems are neither politically skewed nor do they make moral assumptions. Instead, they leave the reader to draw conclusions and feel the poetry.

The first and only of Brian Turner’s published books to date, Here, Bullet has garnered national acclaim. Both author and poetry have been featured in many publications and radio broadcasts, including Maine Things Considered and NPR. Here, Bullet is the recipient of the 2005 Alice James Books’ Beatrice Hawley Award.

Reviews of Here, Bullet

• “The day of the first moonwalk, my father’s college literature professor told his class, ‘Someday they’ll send a poet, and we’ll find out what it’s really like.’ Turner has sent back a dispatch from a place arguably more incomprehensible than the moon—the war in Iraq —and deserves our thanks…”
– The New York Times Book Review Read more

Lincoln and Civil Liberties in the Light of 9/11

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Lincoln and Civil Liberties in the Light of 9/11
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 PM

Issue in Context
Throughout American history, the United States government has restricted certain civil liberties for the sake of national security in response to national crises. In light of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the problem of balancing national security with civil liberties has resurfaced as a widely debated issue in American politics. Political conflict inevitably ensues when governments increase security measures at the expense of personal freedoms. Such was the case during the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to imprison and exile Confederate sympathizers whom he deemed detrimental to the Union and the future of the country. Many argue that President Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War should serve as an instructive precedent for America in a post 9/11 world. As the nation is currently immersed in the war on terror, the American government is attempting once again to balance the civil liberties Americans have traditionally enjoyed with deadly threats from terrorist networks around the globe. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 have not only changed Americans’ present views concerning civil liberties and security, but Read more

Genetic Influences on Addictions

March 7, 2006
Genetic Influences on Addictions
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Genetic AddictionsIssue in Context
Drug abuse and addiction are persistent problems in the United States. While environment plays a significant factor, genetics predetermines susceptibility to the development of addiction. A predisposition to addiction is evidently controlled by several different genes, allowing for a complex range of addictive traits. Though a large number of genes are involved in addictions, it is important to realize that the presence of these genes does not guarantee addiction; genotype does not dictate phenotype.

For example, one study estimated that 40 to 60 percent of cases of alcoholism stem from genetically influenced addiction. Other significant factors include environment, gender, age and ethnic group.

Due to the multifaceted manifestations addiction takes, there is no single medication that can be used to treat the disorders. Pharmacogenetics, the study of genetic factors that influence how a patient reacts to certain treatments, allows researchers and doctors to better choose the most effective treatment available for each patient. Every day new advances are made in the development of such methods.

About the Speaker
After graduating cum laude from Dickinson College in 1973, Dr. Wade H. Berrettini received his M.D. Read more

Understanding Cancer

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Understanding Cancer Symposium

Part I: What is Cancer?
Stern Center Great Room 12:00 p.m.

About the Speaker
Mike Roberts has been a professor of biology at Dickinson College since 1992. He is currently studying the regulation of gene expression in human leukemia cells during differentiation. This utilizes methods of recombinant DNA and molecular biology.

He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Interdisciplinary Committee on Medical and Health Related Issues, and he has received a number of funding awards including the NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award and the Mellon Fund Summer Student/Faculty Research Award. He has published articles in the Journal of Environmental Law and Policy and the Journal of Cell Biology.

In 2003 he was given the Ganoe Award for Inspirational Teaching. He received his B.A. from Colgate University , his M.S. from Miami University , and his Ph.D. from Yale University.

Part II:  Healthcare Policies and Economics
Stern Center Great Room 3:00 p.m.

About the Speaker
David Sarcone has been a professor of international business and management at Dickinson College since 2001. He has held senior management roles in leading regional healthcare systems and specialty provider organizations. Professor Sarcone is currently a doctoral Read more

Code of the Street: Violence and the Inner City Poor

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Code of the Street: Violence and the Inner City Poor
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Code of the Street
Issue in Context
In an attempt to explain why many urban youths are prone to commit acts of violence and aggression, Dr. Anderson has identified a common set of street mores, termed the “code of the street.” Often termed “street justice,” the code allows individuals to command respect in society and alleviates the problems of inner city violence by relying on a strategy of deterrence. Often, the threat of implied violence is used to avoid the use of actual violence

The code reaches beyond the limits of the law, and helps residents gain a sense of security and belonging. The concept of “street justice” provides an alternative method for afflicted inner-city areas to manage their own problems in the face of an increasingly ineffectual police force.

About the Speaker
Elijah Anderson is the Charles and William L. Day Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and a professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the director for the Philadelphia Ethnography Project, associate editor of Qualitative Sociology, and a member of the board of directors of the American Academy Read more

International Women's Day: Perspectives on Progress and Challenges

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
International Women’s Day: Perspectives on Progress and Challenges
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.Womens Day

Issue in Context
International Women’s Day takes place on March 8th of each year. The celebration was created by German Socialist Klara Zetkin in 1911. On International Women’s Day in 1917, Russian women were inspired to protest the rising costs and shortages of food, the world war, and their increased suffering. After 1917, March 8 became the official date for the celebration. When feminism surged in the 1960’s, interest in the holiday revived, and in 1975 the United Nations begun to sponsor International Women’s Day. In 1981, in Santa Rosa California a National Women’s History Week was spearheaded to bring international women together. In 1987 the week was expanded to an entire month, making March National Women’s History Month. Today, women from all over the world come together annually to celebrate peace, equality, and justice. This evening’s panel will discuss progress on women’s issues as well as persistent challenges regarding women’s rights.

About the Speakers
Rae Yang is a professor of Chinese language and literature in the East Asian Studies Department at Dickinson College. She was born in China and held several Read more

Is the European Union Constitution Dead?

Thursday, March 2, 2006
Is the European Union Constitution Dead?
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

eu poster

Eurpoean Constitution

Issue in Context
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is an international treaty commonly known as the European Constitution . The purpose of the Constitution is:

  • to bring together for the first time the many treaties and agreements on which the Union is based,
  • to classify human rights and democratic principles through the European Union (EU),
  • to define EU powers, stating when it can act and when the member states retain their rights of veto,
  • to identify the roles of the EU institutions,
  • and to make the decision-making process more efficient in what is currently a 25-member organization.

The Constitution’s effort to encapsulate all previous treaties enormously increased the document’s complexity and raised doubts about its effects in the diverse European setting. Furthermore, some countries saw it as instituting a European super-state, while other alleged it was establishing an ultra-liberal economic conglomerate. The constitution received additional criticism for extending the EU jurisdiction into areas of national strategy, such as immigration, asylum, and justice.

The treaty was signed in 2004 by the representatives of the member states of the Union and was later submitted Read more