2024-2025 Annual Theme – Alternative Models

Having two directors is a novelty for the Clarke Forum and while we are still experimenting with this new approach, our events for the current year explore a range of alternative models that offer possibilities beyond the mainstream, investigate roads not taken and propose solutions expanding the traditional, be it in science and technologies, art and humanities, or business and politics. How can unconventional ideas reframe critical questions and promote innovative perspectives on contemporary issues?

Monday, November 18, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Reinventing Germany, Again and Again

Thea Dorn, writer, public intellectual and TV host
Janine Ludwig, cultural historian of East Germany
Anne Rabe, playwright and novelist
Matthias Rogg, historian and colonel in the German army

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

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s annual theme, Alternative Models.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Thea Dorn (biography forthcoming)

Janine Ludwig (biography forthcoming)

Anne Rabe (biography forthcoming)

Matthias Rogg (biography forthcoming) Read more

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 – The Morgan Lecture

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 6 p.m.

Livestream link coming soon.

The Morgan Lecture

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

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

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

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Deirdre Cooper Owens is an associate professor of history and Africana studies at the University of Connecticut. Before her most recent appointment, she simultaneously directed the Program in African American History at Read more

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream link coming soon.

Program is Part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project 

A New Divide – The Possibility for Dialogue

Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA

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

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

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

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

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

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

Livestream Link

Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Conversation

Picturing the Constitution: Curators, Artists and Scholars in Conversation

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

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

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