Missed opportunities…

Forum is Bluffton University’s weekly gathering of students, faculty and staff for interdisciplinary discovery and conversation.

"These speakers sound great” said a student assistant while posting the fall semester Forum schedule online. “Too bad I’ve already taken all my Forums.” 

Not to worry – I did point out that one can attend Forum presentations even if you don’t “need to” for credit. (A few years ago, an “arts & lecture credit” was added, requiring  students to attend so many Forum and other cultural events on campus in order to graduate.)

So what is the remaining Forum line-up that caught this student’s interest?

• Race and Ethnicity at Bluffton University
  Dr. Perry Bush
  Bluffton’s institutional historian explains the role of race and ethnicity in Bluffton’s history. (Oct. 1)
  
  
• Keeney Peace Lecture
  On Poetry and History
  Natasha Trethewey, United States Poet Laureate
  Trethewey discusses poetry and reads from her volumes of poems, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Guard. (Oct. 15)
  
  
• Who Said I’m an Indian?
  Guy Jones, Miami Valley Council for Native Americans
  The author of Lessons from Tutle Island, a Hunkpapa Lakota and full-blood member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, asks how we are defined by culture and race and by the names we give to God. (Oct. 22)
  
  
• Four Perfect Pebbles – My Holocaust Story – A Message of Perseverance, Determination, Faith and Hope
  Marion Blumenthal Lazan
  The author of Four Perfect Pebbles recalls her family’s life during the Holcaust, from before Kristallnacht to imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps and eventually liberation. (Oct. 29)
  
  
• Being Muslim in Post-9/11 America
  Julia Shearson, Cleveland Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations – Ohio
  Shearson discusses her conversion from Catholicism to Islam and describes the challenging national climate faced by American Muslims. (Nov. 5)
  
  
• Spiritual Life Week
  Proving God’s Will
  Justin Romine, Keystone Project Summer Internship
  Romine describes the conflict between being conformed to the world and being transformed by the renewing of the mind. (Nov. 12)
  
  
• On Becoming an Insult Pacifist
  Dr. William Irvine, Wright State University
  Irvine reports on his experiments with “insult pacifism” – responding to insults with silence or self-deprecating humor. (Nov. 19)
  
  
• Making Peace from Pandora to Palestine
  Sr. Paulette Schroeder, Sisters of St. Francis
  Schroeder, a Christian Peacemaker Teams reservist, describes her efforts to build a grassroots culture of peace in small Midwestern towns and in the West Bank city of Hebron. (Nov. 26)
  
  
• Plus presentations by students reporting on their spring 2013 cross-cultural experiences (Sept. 24) and the music department Christmas Festival (Dec. 3).

Do you notice a theme in the topics? In recent years, there has been an attempt to bring Forum speakers on campus to support the year’s Civic Engagement Theme. This year’s theme is “Race and Ethnicity in America: Celebration, Struggle, Opportunity.” 

Speakers early in the academic year will help us name and celebrate progress in race relations. The middle of the year will highlight the continuing struggles, while the end of the year will challenge us to embrace the opportunities.

Join us for “interdisciplinary discovery.” Forum presentations are free, open to the public and typically held at 11 a.m. Tuesday mornings in Founders Hall. 

And you don't have to need academic credit to attend.

>>> campus events calendar