Occasionally, professors ask that we read a brief article or passage before coming to dinner, in order to provide a background for discussion.

 

 

:: This Week's Readings:

 

April 6 with Prof. William Westerman

·         Cathy N. Davidson, "We Can't Ignore the Influence of Digital Technologies"

·         Cory L. Doctorow, "Response to “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism

 

:: Past Readings

 

March 25 with Prof. Harvey Rosen

·         Altruism and the Child-Cycle of Alumni Donations

March 2 with Prof. Diane Snyder

·         A Journalist’s View: The New Spies

February 23 with Prof. Sitney

·         “Credo” from Stan Brakhege’s “Telling  Time: Essays of a Visionary Filmmaker”

 

December 1 with Prof. Bill Bialek

·         Introduction from Prof. Bialek

November 24 with Prof. Gordon Bloom

·         Paul Pollak "Out of Poverty"  (8 minute video)- http://www.paulpolak.com/html/media_video_8min.html

·         Acumen Fund- http://www.acumenfund.org/

·         GrassRoots Business Fund- http://www.gbfund.org/

November 10 with Prof. Andrew Moravcsik

·     Why Europe is Stronger than Ever

October 27 with Prof. Paul Muldoon

·     Au Revoir

·     Gardening in Cardoso

October 20 with Prof. Josh Shaevitz

·         Letting Scientists Off the Leash

October 6 with Prof. Peter Singer

·         Should we ration healthcare? and

·         Doubts about how to ration healthcare (unpublished as of 9/30/09)

September 29 with Prof. Paul Starr

·         Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a new era of corruption)

 

 

:: Previous Years

 

April 22 Dinner Discussion with Thomas Espenshade

   -James Traub's The Way We Live Now

April 15 Dinner Discussion with William Childs

   -Alexander Nehamas's Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art
   -Historical Background: Plato's The Republic, Book X

April 10 Dinner Discussion with Florent Masse

   -Donald Morrisons's The Death of French Culture

April 1 Dinner Discussion with Bill Frist

   -Newt Gingrich and David Merritt's American Healthcare at the Crossroads

March 11 Dinner Discussion with Suraiya Baluch

   -De-stressing During Midterms: How to Deal with Stress

March 4 Dinner Discussion with Alan Blinder

   -Alan Blinder's From the New Deal, a Way Out of a Mess
   -Ronald Temple's Clarifying the U.S. Mortgage Crisis

February 26 Dinner Discussion with Kofi Agawu

   -Kofi Agawu's The Invention of "African Rhythm"

December 11 Dinner Discussion with Jeffrey Stout

   -Jeffery Stout's Mending the Fire: Reflections on Democracy in America

November 27 Dinner Discussion with Brian Kernighan

   -James Gleick's Patently Absurd

November 20 Dinner Discussion with Professor Peter Singer

   -Singer's What Should a Billionaire Give - and What Should You?

November 13 Dinner Discussion with Professor Paul Steinhardt

   -Excerpt from Endless Universe

November 6 Dinner Discussion with Professor Stephen Macedo

   -Public Reason and Political Commmunity

October 23 Dinner Discussion with Dr. Shefalika Gandhi

   -De-stresing During Midterms: How to Deal with Stress

October 17 Dinner Discussion with Professor Andrew Feldherr

   -Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things" - Book 3, Cyril Bailey Translation
   -Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's Summary of Book III (Optional)
   - Another summary with direct quotes from the poem (Optional) 

October 10 Dinner Discussion with Professor Andre Benhaim

    -Camillle's "The Guest" - http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld/d/guest.html

 October 3 Dinner Discussion with  Professor Wole Soboyejo

    -Alternative Strategies for Development here

 

 

Please contact any of the officers if there are any problems.