October is National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) – a coast-to-coast collective recognition of the importance of culture in America. NAHM was launched by Americans for the Arts 30 years ago as National Arts Week in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1993, it was reestablished by Americans for the Arts and national arts partners as a month-long celebration, with goals of:
 
FOCUSING on the arts at local, state, and national levels;
 
ENCOURAGING individuals and organizations to participate in the arts;
 
ALLOWING governments and businesses to show their support of the arts; and
 
RAISING public awareness about the role the arts and humanities play in our communities and lives.

We have a TON of exciting events planned this October to celebrate National Arts & Humanities month. Check out what's happening on campus and in our community!

Thank you to all who participated and aided in the success of this event for the third year at SRU! Special thanks to the following:

Judges: For your exemplary performance in challenging the students to think through the cases more carefully through commentary and considering alternative positions.
 
Moderators: For being professional and playing a key role in ensuring the event moved forward and was completed in a timely manner. 

Students: For taking time to carefully consider the cases, formulate ethical arguments, and present them in a well-prepared manner.

Mentors: For your willingness to meet with teams to aid them in preparation for the event.

Special Guests: ​​​Dr. Megan Altman (Hiram), Dr. Alan Tom have (Youngstown), and Dr. Michael Coulter (Grove City) for bringing teams to the event. Their teams’ involvement has set the foundation for making the SRU Ethics Bowl a regional event in future years.

​This event also greatly benefited from the support of President Norton, Provost Philip Way, Associate Provost for Transformational Experiences Brad Wilson, Dean for College of Liberal Arts Jennifer Keller, Philosophy Department Chair Katherine Cooklin, Dr. Andrew Colvin, and Dr. Andrew Winters.

Help facilitate key outcomes in values and ethics, critical thinking, and effective communication. Community members and faculty are invited to participate as judges or moderators in the 2017 SRU ETHICS BOWL. Don't miss this unique opportunity!

The Ethics Bowl competition is FREE and open to all SRU students. Hurry! The registration deadline is February 10.

Click here to learn how some of our most successful programs are making an impact in the community.

On November 30,  the panel discussion “The Pulse Nightclub Mass Shooting: Unpacking the Intersecting Issues” took place on the Slippery Rock University Campus. Four professors and a student took turns discussing the tragedy that took place in Orlando back in June, where 49 people were killed and another 53 wounded. The event received such a significant turnout that the auditorium was at full capacity, some even had to be turned away due to safety risks.

The panel participants were Cindy LaCom  (Gender Studies), Jennifer McGraw (Psychology Department), Catherine Massey (Psychology Department), Andrew Winters (Philosophy Department), and Morgan Scott (SRU student and RockOut President). Each panelist took turns discussing different perspectives on phenomena leading up to incidents like the Pulse shooting.

Before the panel began a video from Democracy Now was played for the audience to add perspective to the shooting.

Dr. Cindy LaCom was the first to offer a perspective on the shooting by discussing the issues of gun violence and its connection to hegemonic masculinity in the U.S. She provided many statistics discussing how mass shootings are a U.S. phenomenon that is carried out by men 98 percent of the time, where 90 percent of them were white. She discussed the issues of aggrieved entitlement, which leads men to feel a need to avenge any humiliation they may feel.

Dr. Catherine Massey gave a perspective as a LGBT community member. She discussed the history of violence and discrimination towards LGBT members. She cited how 73 countries today still put LGBT people to death for being gay and how Mateen (the perpetrator) pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the shooting. She spoke of the predominance of LGBT discrimination that can still be seen in the U.S. today by referring to two of the cabinet members that President-elect Donald Trump has appointed who are on record saying things in opposition to gay rights.

Dr. Jennifer McGraw offered a prospective which discussed the relation between mental illness and violence. She discussed how it is a common misconception to think that those people involved in such violence like that of the Pulse shooting are mentally ill. There has been little correlation between mental illness and violence, but large correlations between environmental factors and violence. She raised awareness of the dangers of restricting gun rights from the mentally ill and how it can lead to a slippery slope of restricting many more serious rights of our “mentally ill” citizens.

SRU student Morgan Scott gave the perspective of a LGBT student on the day of the shooting. Scott discussed a personal experience account and what impacts the event could leave on members of the community. Scott concluded by asking people to stop normalization and to please step in when witnessing instances of hate towards LGBT.

Dr. Andrew Winters ended the discussion by speaking from a cosmopolitism perspective. Cosmopolitism holds that all of humanity and the citizens of the world are included in the cosmos. Winters encouraged students to think of themselves as citizen of a community, where the goal is for each individual to do their part so that all can experience the maximum flourishing. When members of the community feel alone it pushes them to dark places, allowing them to expose themselves to radical ideas, which can account for (at least partly) many of these tragedies our world has experienced.

Students were then allowed to ask questions they had to receive insightful feedback.

This event was sponsored by the Psychology Department, the Gender Studies Department, the President’s Commission on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, the Department of Housing and Residence Life, the Philosophy Department, the Center for Public Humanities, RockOUT, and the Pride Center. The panel was organized by Emily Keener, psychology department, and Cindy LaCom, gender studies department.

Join us tomorrow, November 30 at 7:30 PM, for The Pulse Nightclub Mass Shooting Panel.

A notable figure of modern Stoicism visited SRU on Friday for two different sessions to discuss his work with students as well as present on how stoicism can be applied to daily life.

Stoicism is a school of philosophy with origins in Ancient Greece, focusing on unbiased and logical thinking rooted in determinism and the belief that one should live by the laws of nature. Massimo Pigliucci, a professor at the City College of New York, met with students from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Friday to have an author-meets-critics session, where the groups discussed his book ‘Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life.’  He also met with students at 7:30 p.m. to give a presentation on the basics of stoicism and how it is suitable for daily life.

Pigliucci’s discussion on Friday night (which drew over 100 students and faculty) was titled “So You Want to be a Stoic, Eh?” Pigliucci covered the origins of Stoicism and aimed to answer the question what is the meaning of life, how to deal with emotions, understanding one’s place in the cosmos and other questions.

Part of Pigliucci’s discussion also dealt with how to practice stoicism, and he said that he meditates every day, which allows him to put his life in perspective and help control the “here and now.” After the discussion, Pigliucci answered answers from the audience, with someone asking if it’s possible to still follow a stoic lifestyle when following other religions. Pigliucci said that it was possible, as one can adapt stoicism ideas to other beliefs.

Click here to learn more about Stoicism.

This event was sponsored by the SRU Philosophy Department, Philosophy Club, and the Stone House Center for Public Humanities.