Columbus Stays At Brown

November 20, 2008

Yes, there are cases of student councils refusing to translate progressive imperatives into University policy (less so, it seems than administrations) even, as we see today, at Brown. The Brown Undergraduate Council of Students voted against a resolution expressing support for the abrogation of Columbus Day as a University holiday by a a 21-15 margin. The Brown Daily Herald notes:

The students were not sufficiently swayed by a presentation earlier this month by Reiko Koyama ’11, who told the council that by keeping Columbus Day on the academic calendar and giving students the day off, the University was condoning Columbus’ role in the deaths of millions.

Considering that Constitution Day events on campuses appear to consist largely of hearings on the Patriot Act (not inappropriately) couldn’t Brown, and other universities simply provide contextual (oppositional, indigenous-American-balanced, whichever you’d like to call it) programming on the occasion?

Discussion

John Tomasi

November 24, 2008

Constitution Day events at Brown this year featured a debate on the question “Was the New Deal a Good Deal?,” with Richard Epstein of Chicago and Sam Isaacheroff of NYU presenting students with rival viewpoints. The event was sponsored by Brown’s Political Theory Project, an initiative whose mission is to encourage civil conversations about the institutions that make societies free, prosperous and fair. 250 students attended the event, and many of them participated in a student essay contest on this topic that the Project sponsored afterward. The event sparked some fascinating debate and conversation on campus. (Would that programming count as “contextual?” I’ll let you decide.)

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