YCP Faculty Present "The Humanities and Our Civic Life"
Posted October 26, 2007FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
YORK, Pa. - YCP Professors, Dr. Dominic Delli Carpini, Dr. Victor Taylor, Dr. Rory Kraft and Dr. Deborah Vause, will come together on November 1 at 7 p.m. in Wolf Recital Hall to host a discussion on the role of the humanities in our civic life.
Throughout our history, Americans have almost always been conflicted about the role of the humanities and higher education in our civic life and traditions. From the founding of the country until today, Americans have been suspicious of the "academic elite," the ivory tower and its intellectual denizens, but they have also built and supported an internationally acclaimed system of public and private colleges and universities to educate their children. Pennsylvania itself has a long and illustrious tradition of devotion to education in the humanities, but its state legislature recently sponsored a series of hearings on academic freedom and intellectual diversity, amidst calls of abuse from conservative critics of higher education. These enduring conflicts raise important questions about the role of the humanities in our civic life. Does the study of the humanities foster a stronger civic life? What role does education in the humanities play in fostering active, critically engaged civic life? How does the study of languages and literature, philosophy and religion, writing and rhetoric help us to understand and engage with contemporary social conflicts? It was these issues and questions the four faculty from the English & Humanities Department addressed in a series of afternoon presentations in September and October.
For more information, please contact Deb Staley at 717-815-1349.
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