Islamophobia and the Arab Spring: "Western Relations with Islam and the Muslim World Post 9/11"2/6/2012 The relationship between the West and the Muslim World is complex. For more than a decade Islam has been a central focus in the media. Yet many of our perceptions are still fraught with inaccuracies and a lack of awareness, which continue to shape policy decisions.
John Esposito is a Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. Additionally, he is the Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and he serves as a consultant to the Department of State and a number of corporations, universities, and media outlets around the world. Professor Esposito’s has expertise on political Islam and the impact of Islamic movements. He has written more than forty books, many of which have been translated into multiple languages.
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“The American political system is broken. America needs to do more about environmental issues. America’s involvement in foreign wars is deplorable.” Whether or not you believe these statements, you surely have heard these types of criticisms and more about the nation in which we live. These sentiments are reflected in the statistics: Approval ratings for Congress are at incredible lows and voter participation rates remain appallingly low, especially among young people. Criticism of American politics and American culture is rampant.
Have Americans lost their patriotism? Is patriotism still something we should value? What does it mean to be a patriot in America today? Why should you care? To hear answers to these questions and more, join The Pomona Student Union on Thursday, January 26, at 5 PM in the Frank Blue Room, for a paneled discussion about patriotism in the 21st century. Our panelists for the event will be: Miriam Feldblum, Dean of Students and Professor of Politics Susan McWilliams, Pomona Politics Professor John Pitney, CMC Government Professor You’ve probably caught yourself before worrying about “#FirstWorldProblems”: Why is this wireless internet so slow? No Snack on Thursdays? Aren’t all these Facebook invites annoying?
Let’s take one evening (and perhaps many more) to consider our relationship to Developing World Problems: more than a billion people live on less than $1.25 per day. About six million children under 5 years old die of preventable diseases every year. A basic education is hard to come by. As graduates of an elite liberal arts college, what, if anything, are we obligated to do to alleviate some of these problems? Debra Satz, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Stanford University, argues that our obligations to people who are suffering abroad are significant. David Schmidtz, Professor of Philosophy and Economics at Arizona University, is a libertarian who argues that our obligations are very limited–both to those who are suffering and to those who simply have less. Join the Pomona Student Union on Thursday, December 1st, at 7 PM in Rose Hills Theater to have an interdisciplinary discussion about global poverty and how we should respond to it. The Pomona Student Union was recently featured in the “Member Innovations” portion of the monthly Association of American Colleges and Universities publication. The article features interviews with several current and former board members, as well as Pomona College faculty. To read the article, please click here.
In popular discourse, we commonly make use of terms like “gay,” “straight,” “heterosexual,” and “homosexual.” Yet in the world of academia, rigid, essential categories such as these are no longer used to describe sexuality. Instead, sexuality is viewed as fluid, with sexual desires only appearing consistent due to social constructions. At this event, we will examine sexuality through several different lenses, and attempt to determine if sexual orientations reflect a difference in biological make-up, cultural constructions, or some combination of the two. Speakers include Andrew Lear, Simon LeVay, Rachel Levin, and Pardis Mahdavi.
Occupy Wall Street began as a campaign on the web and became a 50+ days-and-counting tent city protest in the heart of New York City’s financial district and in other cities across the world, gaining momentum through popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. While certainly unique, the OWS movement has been reminiscent of the uprisings in Egypt, which many attributed to Twitter. What role has social media really played in these revolutions? Has it changed the way these revolutions occur or how we experience them? How can we use social media for our own social justice? The Pomona Student Union invites you to join a panel discussion on these and other questions with:
David Parry, Assistant Professor of Emerging Media and Communications – U-Texas, Dallas and blogger at ProfoundHeterogeneity.com Ramesh Srinivasan, Assistant Professor of Design and Media/Information Technologes – UCLA FMI: [email protected] Pomona Student Union Presents… Survivor: Pomona
Come see some of Pomona’s favorite professors argue on behalf of their disciplines to stay on the island of academia! Support your major and your professors by helping to decide the winners. Only three can survive! Featuring Professors: Beck (Sociology) Hazlett (Environmental Analysis) Johnson (Neuroscience) McWilliams (Politics) Radunskaya (Math) Rockwell (Music) Rosenfeld (English) Seligman (Biology) Wolf (History) These professors will be arguing on behalf of their disciplines why they are the most important and why they should stay on the island of academia instead of the other disciplines. Come watch them support their discipline and argue against the others as you help to decide which three disciplines are the most important and most deserving of staying on the island. Thursday, October 20th, 2011 7:00PM Edmunds Ballroom (SCC) Pomona College Studies have found that the best musicians spend over 10,000 hours in solitary practice before receiving international recognition. On the other hand, it seems like LeBron James was born to play basketball. This event will explore what it takes to be an expert. What role do genetics play in becoming a virtuoso? Can practice turn anyone into a superstar? And is it too late to get started? Join K. Anders Ericsson, developer of the 10,000 hour rule and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, and Dean Simonton, author of Genius 101 and Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis for a discussion of these questions and more.
Thursday October 6, 7PM. Rose Hills Theatre Smith Campus Center, Pomona College. FMI: [email protected] A study done by the Century Foundation in 2004 found that at the 146 most selective colleges and universities in the United States, 74 percent of students came from families in the top socioeconomic quartile of the population while only 3 percent of students came from the bottom quartile. This event will explore the causes behind these numbers: including different admissions policies, types of financial aid, and the importance of class in college admissions. Specifically, it will focus on class-based affirmative action– is it time for class-based affirmative action, and, if so, how it should be implemented?
Join Dr. George Leef, Director of Research for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy; Dr. James Sterba, Philosophy Professor at the University of Notre Dame and author of Affirmative Action for the Future; and Matthew Yglesias, Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund for a discussion on these questions and more on Thursday, September 29 at 7PM in Edmunds Ballroom at Pomona College. FMI: [email protected] |
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