The Class of 1995 will present a series of speeches and panel discussions Thursday through Saturday as part of the 17th annual senior symposium, "Lest the Old Traditions Fail: An Examination of Tradition in America."
Symposium co-Chair Haskins Hobson '95 said the symposium will focus on the role of tradition in today's society.
"We'll be looking at whether maintaining tradition is something to strive for," Hobson said.
Joseph Dadzie '95, the other co-chair, said, "We want to know how tradition has affected us in the past and how it will affect decision making in the future."
A number of poets, authors, professors and students will examine tradition in a number of different areas, including religion, literature, science and education.
The Class of 1978 established the senior symposium as an intellectual gift to the College from the senior class.
The majority of events will take place at either Collis Common Ground or 105 Dartmouth Hall. All events are free and open to both the entire Dartmouth community and the general public.
The symposium begins on Thursday with two speeches and a panel discussion.Minister Alice Dise will lecture on "Women in Ministry" at 3 p.m. in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences.
At 4 p.m., local residents Adel Mansour, Keith Marsh and Joe Mender will host a roundtable discussion of the role of tradition in the Muslim, Christian and Mormon faiths titled "Foundations of Faith" in Collis Common Ground.
Later, University of California at Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson will give a lecture titled "The Established Religion: Then and Now" in 105 Dartmouth at 5:30 p.m.
Thursday's keynote address will be given by Columbia Journalism School Professor Ari Goldman at 7:30 p.m. Goldman will speak on "All the Religion That's Fit to Print" in 105 Dartmouth.
Author and community activist Piri Thomas kicks off Friday's program with a lecture on "Unity Among All the Colors" at 3 p.m. in Collis Common Ground.
Thomas then joins authors Grace Paley and Lane Van Herzen at 4:30 p.m. for a panel discussion titled "The Past: A Prelude to the Present and Future" in Collis Common Ground. Also at 4:30 p.m., University of Memphis Professor of Engineering Orville Wheeler will give a speech on "Historical Changes in Engineering Over the Past 4 Decades" in Cummings Hall.
Dr. Frank Young, head of Human Disaster Relief for the United States, will give Friday's keynote address on "The Collision of Faith, Science and Society" at 7:30 p.m. at Collis Common Ground.
On Saturday, Allen Jackson and Genaro Padilla will lead the first event at 1 p.m., a panel discussion on "Tradition in Education."Jackson is the head of the Idaho State Museum of Natural Science and Padilla is the acting vice president of undergraduate affairs at the University of California at Berkeley.
At 3:30 p.m., Master of Arts and Liberal Studies student John Murray and Louis Tucker '95 will lead a slide show and discussion titled "Dartmouth College: Two Centuries of Christian Education" at Collis Common Ground.
A panel discussion featuring David-Alexander Gros '95, Danielle Moore '95 and some alumni will discuss "Tradition at Dartmouth: Reflections on the Past" at 5 p.m. at Collis Common Ground.
Craig Parker, director of the Navigators, a student religious ministry group at the College, concludes the symposium with Saturday's keynote address, titled "Tradition and the Modern World: What Happens When the Foundations are Erased" at 7:30 p.m. in 105 Dartmouth.
The Class of 1995 senior symposium is sponsored by numerous offices on campus, including the Office of the President.
