In honor of Constitution Day, Linfield College will be hosting events on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 11:45 a.m. in 201 Riley Hall and Thursday, Oct. 12, at 4:30 p.m. in the Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium in Melrose Hall.
The September event will feature several nominated students who have been charged with the following question: “How ought we, as members of the Linfield community, live together?” Each student will deliver a five minute response to this question. Lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the event. Speeches will begin promptly at noon.
The October event will focus on conversations about equality and speech, presented by Cheryl Harris and Jonathan Rauch. Harris, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in civil rights and civil liberties at the University of California, Los Angeles’ law school, is one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of critical race studies. She is the author of the seminal essay, “Whiteness as Property,” and she is an award winning civil rights educator. Rauch, from the Brooking Institution and The Atlantic, has established himself as a leading commentator on American politics, public policy and culture. His books on gay marriage and free speech are widely recognized as important contributions to debates in those areas.
Both Harris and Rauch will speak independently in order to familiarize the audience with some of their views about the central questions in debate over equality and speech. They will then engage in conversation with each other before the floor is opened to comments and questions from the audience. At the conclusion of the event, there will be a reception in Jonasson Hall.
Both events are free, open to the public and co-sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Forum on Law, Rights, and Justice, the Program for Liberal Arts and Civic Engagement, the John Templeton Foundation, the Elliot Alexander Fund for Political Science and the Office of Academic Affairs. For more information, contact Nicholas Buccola at 503-883-2246 or nbuccol@linfield.edu.
