The
Sixteenth Annual Series (2004-2005)
of the Symposium on Science, Reason, and Modern Democracy
and the LeFrak Forum
The
2004-05 program will consist of a lecture series and a
conference, on different themes.
I.
LECTURE SERIES: DISPUTED QUESTIONS
The
lecture series will include two lectures and two debates
on hotly disputed questions now on the public agenda. There
will be one lecture and one debate each semester. The lectures
are jointly sponsored by James Madison College and supported
by the Office of the Provost. The schedule is as follows:
FALL:
Lecture: "Is the United States an Empire?," Niall Ferguson,
Professor of History, Harvard University, Wednesday, October 13, 7
pm, Kellogg Center Auditorium.
Follow-up discussion: Thursday, October 14, 9 am, Club Spartan, Case Hall.
SPRING:
Debate: "Is
President Bush's Foreign Policy Good for America?," William
Kristol (Editor, The Weekly Standard),
and John Judis (Senior Editor, The New
Republic). Thursday, February 3, 8pm, Kellogg Center
Auditorium.
Mr.
Judis was an early opponent of the war in Iraq and has
been a consistent critic of the Bush doctrine. Mr. Kristol
was an early advocate of that war and has been a consitent
proponent of that doctrine. An informal follow-up seminar
will be held on Friday, February 4, at 10am in 104 South
Kedsie.
Lecture: "What
is the Public Role of the Writer?," Salman Rushdie
(Booker Prize-winning author of Midnight's
Children, Satanic Verses, and The Moors Last
Sigh, among other works), Thursday, March 17. 7:30pm,
Great Hall, Wharton Center.
Debate: "Should
Same-Sex Couples Continue to be Excluded from the Legal
Institution of Marriage?," Evan Wolfson (Executive
Director, Freedom to Marry) and Gerard Bradley (Professor
of Law, University of Notre Dame). Wednesday, April 6,
8pm, Big Ten Room C, Kellogg Center.
Professor
Bradley is one of the principal draftsmen of the constitutional
amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Mr. Wolfson is one
of the country's leading spokesmen for the rights of gays
and his organization has been in the forefront of the movement
to legalize same-sex marriage.
Professor
Bradley and Mr. Wolfson will also lead an informal follow-up
seminar on Thurdsay, April 7 at 10am in 104 S. Kedzie.
II.
CONFERENCE: EDUCATION AND INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE IN THE
MIDDLE EAST: PRESENT CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
June
8-9, 2005
(at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC)
The theme of our seventeenth annual conference is the debate about the reform
of education in the Middle East. This conference is the second in a series
on Islam. The first, "Beyond Radical Islam?," was held on campus
last April.
This second conference is co-sponsored by the Hudson Institute (Washington,
DC) and the Herbert Quandt Institute (Munich, Germany). It is co-directed by
Hillel Fradkin, who heads Hudson's Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future
of the Muslim World, and Sven Olaf Berggoetz, the Executive Director of the
Hertbert Quandt Foundation.
All
conference sessions will be held at the Mayflower Hotel,
1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.
The
conference will address the following issues:
Traditional
Islamic education has struggled to adapt itself to the
novel challenges of modern life. In many Muslim societies,
religious schools or madrasahs have become vital institutions
for Islamist indoctrination and recruitment. In contrast,
secular educational systems, such as those established
in Muslim countries that rejected religious tradition in
favor of nationalist and socialist alternatives, today
largely exist to serve the interests of authoritarian regimes.
Education
reform will therefore be crucial in securing free and prosperous
Muslim societies. What specific institutional, pedagogical,
and curricular reforms will be required to help educate
citizens capable of participating in the global economy
and democratic life? What role can and should education
play in promoting accommodation between Islam and modern
life?
The
conference will consist of four sessions. The first will
examine the present state of scholarship and public intellectual
discourse in the Middle East. The second and third will
focus on seconday education and higher education. The fourth
will be an open discussion designed to identify key findings
and areas of future inquiry, make recommendations for changes
in United States and German policy, and outline a road
map for education reform in the Middle East.
Paper-givers
will include, Gunter Mulack, German Ambassador
to Pakistan; John Agresto, President Emeritus,
St. John's College, and former US senior advisor on higher
education in Iraq; Abdou Filali-Ansary, Director,
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations,University
of London; Husain Haqqani, Associate Professor
of Political Science, Boston University, and Senior Fellow,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Zainab
Al-Suwaij, American Islamic Congress; Rusen
Cakir, columnist Vatan Daily (Turkey); Mohammad
Jabir, Vice President, Alnahrain University, Iraq; Sattar
Jawad, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Mustansyiah
University, Iraq; Rahma Bourqia, President,
Universite Hassan II Mohammedia, Morocco; Nidhal
Guessoum, American University of Sharjah, United
Arab Emirates; Mohammad Sadik, President,
Salahaddin University, Kurdistan, Iraq.
Other
participants will include both accomplished and rising
younger scholars from the United States, Europe, and several
Muslim countries.
|
