Members Present: Khurshid Anwar, Kathryn Benjamin, Rani Carson, Denise Sariego. One member, Joy Mahabir, was not able to come on Thursday, the 19th, but said that she would be able to attend subsequent meetings on some Tuesdays. Another member, David Marshall, was also unable to attend, but wanted to be apprised of the minutes of the meeting. Hopefully both absent members will be able to attend the next meeting of the committee, which it was agreed upon would take place on Tuesday, November 14 at 3:30 p.m. at a soon-to-be-announced location, which would be on campus this time. Leslie Buck, on the Eastern campus, has expressed some interest in the committee and will be sent a copy of these minutes, and invited to the committee's next meeting.
Several suggestions were made on October 19, 2006 for a title for this fledgling committee, for example "The Committee to Stimulate Dialogue on Current Issues" or "The Committee to Facilitate Dialogue on Current Issues". Most members present agreed that it was a good idea for the committee to report to the academic assembly every month, as part of its consciousness-raising efforts.
We also discussed the charge of the committee and agreed to work on and refine and polish both the name of this committee, and its charge. All seemed to agree that the charge should be something like: to create a frame of reference for dialogue that differed from the media's; to explore and defend freedom of speech issues; and to bring in outside films and speakers which would provide a new framework for dialogue. We also discussed arranging a panel discussion with several members of the committee explaining how they came to hold their present views. We had considerable discussion of many issues of current world and national affairs, and how we, as educators, could better inform the college community of viewpoints and perspectives that might differ from those presented by mainstream media.
Kathryn Benjamin mentioned a collection of DVD's in her possession that could quite possibly form the basis for a mini-film series which could be shown at the college. Each film provides a short but effective critique of the current situation. We also discussed the possibility of bringing in speakers representing many alternative views of the present war, "for example, perhaps someone from Cindy Sheehan's group, or Code Pink, or the ACLU," possibly one of them being a veteran who had already done a tour of duty in Iraq and would have first-hand experience to share with the audience. We discussed linking up with the Philosophy Club perhaps, or the Student Senate, to (as Kathryn has written) join forces and possibly increase our visibility and student awareness." Rani Carson agreed to meet with and discuss some of these possibilities with the Director of Student Activities, Lydia Kloiber, and also with the Director of Multi-Cultural Affairs, Norman Daniels, as a way of accessing sources of funding. Please forward any ideas, polishings, corrections and refinements to me before the next meeting, or just bring them with you to the meeting on November 14th.
One question: Do you think we have anything to report yet to the Academic Assembly meeting which will be taking place on October 31 st? Do we have a firm title or firm charge yet? Don't we have to wait until we do? Since we did not hold elections for chairman or secretary, I am just jumping into the breach temporarily.
Respectfully submitted,
Rani Carson
Professor of
Art