Current Program
A Mosque Near Ground Zero? A Panel Discussion
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.
Panelists
Hussein Ibish, Ph.D., senior fellow, American Task Force on Palestine
Michelle Boorstein, religion reporter, The Washington Post
Erik Love, adjunct faculty member, sociology department
The panelists will discuss the nature and extent of American Islamophobia in the context of the ongoing controversy regarding whether an Islamic community cen ... Read more...
The Clarke Forum’s Annual Theme
Each year The Clarke Forum devotes a major portion of its resources to activities organized around an annual theme. All members of the Dickinson community, including students, are invited to propose topics for annual themes. Annual themes have included: Democratization, Race & Ethnicity, The Politics of Identity, Environmental Sustainability, Citizenship, Corporations & Globalization, War, Crossing Borders, For Richer or for Poorer: Globalization under Attack, Religion and Political Power, Energy, A Gendered World and Human Rights.
2010-2011 Theme: Thought for Food
The common expression that “we are what we eat” only partially captures the reasons why food is such an important topic. How we produce food and choose the food we consume directly shapes not only who we are, but it also directly affects our health, the health of others, the health care system of the United States, the underlying economy, and ultimately the planet and all the living beings residing on it.
Food and health, in short, are so closely intertwined that one cannot be sensibly considered without an in-depth examination of the other. Topics range from increasing cancer and obesity rates, environmental toxicity of pesticides, the health and ethics of meat production, the erosion of a rich historical and cultural heritage that once connected food, society and land to its replacement by a ‘McDonaldization’ of production types and consumer choices. Since these topics cross disciplinary boundaries, they connect the natural sciences with the social sciences and the humanities at a time when Dickinson College is trying to make sustainability a defining feature of academic learning and institutional policy. Moreover, sustainable agriculture and the related food system that supports it present opportunities for business entrepreneurship and venues for spirited debates over a wide variety of issues, including food labeling, genetic modification, and organic food standards.
The Clarke Forum’s Leadership Series
LEADERSHIP IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY
The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues is establishing a series of programmatic events dedicated to the theme of leadership in an age of uncertainty. This new initiative is grounded on the reality that today’s generation of Dickinson students confronts a large number of intractable political, economic, and social problems: terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental pollution, global warming, a sustainable energy policy, the ongoing financial crisis, the federal deficit, the amount of public and private debt, the health care crisis, along with issues regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as technology and privacy. These issues and problems directly or indirectly pose challenges to the College and the local community that may in time require fundamental changes in institutions, values, and practices across the public, private, and non-profit sectors of American society. How Dickinsonians respond to these challenges presents us with an opportunity for reflection on the meaning of leadership in the contemporary world. These programs are identified with an asterisk (*).
