Lawrence University News

Noted Conservative Commentator Discusses Free Speech Issues on College Campuses in Address at Lawrence University

Former FBI agent, best-selling author and free-speech advocate Gary Aldrich will discuss what he calls “a serious assault on our constitutional rights” on the country’s college campuses in an address at Lawrence University.

Aldrich presents “Free Speech Issues on Campus” Wednesday, May 18 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

A frequent guest on national news programs, Aldrich will share his personal experiences as a conservative commentator on college campus visits and argue for efforts to restore balance to what he sees as “a dramatic lessening of students’ free-speech rights” at colleges and universities.

Aldrich, a 30-year veteran of the FBI where he specialized in white-collar crime, including fraud and political corruption, garnered national attention in July, 1996 with the release of his book “Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House,” which broke the agency’s “code of silence.”

“Unlimited Access,” which spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, detailed breaches of national security Aldrich had witnessed during the Clinton administration while he was on assignment at the White House, including qualifying high-level political appointees for Top Secret clearance and granting access to sensitive areas of the White House.

In his 2003 follow-up book “Thunder on the Left,” Aldrich charges that the Democratic Party has been hijacked by the far left wing of the party and that President Clinton was responsible for the 9/11 terrorists attacks. He also is the author of the 1998 novel “Speak No Evil.”

During his lengthy FBI career, Aldrich worked in the White House during the administrations of the first president Bush as well as those of presidents Reagan and Clinton. He also served as the senior FBI liaison to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, overseeing the maintenance of national security issues.

In 1998, he founded The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty in Fairfax, Va. The nonprofit center promotes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the right of ethical dissent. It also specializes in “whistleblower cases,” assisting workers who report corruption within the federal government.

A former talk show host, Aldrich has written political commentaries for numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Insight Magazine and The Washington Times, among others. He also is a regular columnist for Worldnetdaily.com.

His appearance is sponsored by the Lawrence College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation

Wisconsin Congressional Candidate Discusses Economic Growth, Deficit Reduction in Lawrence University Address

Green Bay businessman and Wisconsin 8th Congressional District candidate Jamie Wall shares his vision for the future of Wisconsin and America in an address at Lawrence University.

Focusing on issues of economic growth and deficit reduction, Wall presents “America Means Opportunity” Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. He will conduct a question-and-answer session following his address, which is free and open to the public.

In his first bid for elective office, Wall is seeking the congressional seat currently held by three-term Congressman Mark Green (R-Green Bay). First elected in 1998, Green has announced his candidacy for governor. The National Journal, a weekly magazine focusing on politics, policy and government, has identified Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District as one of the key House races in the country to watch in 2006.

A sixth-generation Wisconsinite, Wall grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Askeaton in rural Brown County and graduated from Wrightstown High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993 and the following year was named a Rhodes Scholar. He spent two years (1995-97) at Oxford University, earning a master’s degree in political philosophy.

Currently an independent business consultant in Green Bay, Wall served as the head of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce’s economic development programs from 2003 to earlier this year and is a founding member of the Northeast Wisconsin Economic Development Partnership.

Wall’s visit is sponsored by the Lawrence College Democrats.

Interpreting the Qur’an: Modern Islamist Thought Focus of Lawrence University Main Hall Forum

Several key verses from the Qur’an concerning the role and status of Christians will be discussed in a Lawrence University Main Hall Forum.

Rachel Scott, a visiting lecturer in religious studies at Lawrence, presents “The Qur’an, Christians and Modern Islamist Thought,” Tuesday, May 17 at 4:45 p.m. in Main Hall, Room 101. The event is free and open to the public.

The verses highlighted in the presentation concern Jews and Christians in general, but Scott will focus on how those verses relate to the proposed legal and social status of Coptic Christians within a proposed Egyptian Islamic state. She will analyze different interpretations of these verses, arguing that modern Islamist thought is not monolithic, but rather is represented by a spectrum of thinkers who have competing visions as to what the true nature of Islam is.

Scott, whose research interests include Islamic intellectual history, Christian-Muslim relations and the social and political origins of the Islamic movement joined the religious studies department at the start of Term III after previously teaching in the department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester in England.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Islamic history at Oxford University’s Pembroke College and her Ph.D. in Islamic studies at the University of London. In addition, Scott has studied Arabic at the University of Alexandria in Egypt and Hebrew at the University of Jerusalem. This fall she will join the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University as an assistant professor of religious studies.

Shack-a-thon: Raising Money and Awareness for Housing Issues

Nearly 20 teams of students representing the gamut of campus organizations will transform the Lawrence University Main Hall Green into a temporary shantytown May 14-15 for the college’s fourth annual “Shack-a-thon.”

The fund-raising activity, which supports Habitat for Humanity, challenges the design creativity and engineering skills of students, who will construct make-shift “homes” from donated and salvaged materials on 10-foot-by-10-foot plots near Main Hall beginning early Saturday afternoon. The shacks will remain up until mid-morning Sunday and at least one member of each team will be required to spend the night in the shack.

“Change jars” will be placed in front of each shack with cash donations serving as votes for a “best shack” contest. An on-site host tent will provide information on issues related to homelessness and the need for affordable housing.

“The idea behind Shack-A-Thon is to not only raise money for Habitat for Humanity, but also to raise awareness about the reality of some of the serious housing issues that we face as a nation,” said Brian Hilgeman, one-time events coordinator for the Lawrence Volunteer and Community Service Center, which is sponsoring the event. “We want to provide a fun atmosphere where students as well as members of the Appleton community can think about problems such as homelessness or affordable housing.”

Shack-a-thon organizers raised more than $4,800 at last year’s event and hope to top that figure this year. All proceeds raised by the event are earmarked for the eventual construction of a Lawrence sponsored Habitat for Humanity home in the Fox Cities.

For more information about Shack-a-thon, contact the Lawrence Volunteer and Community Service Center at 920-832-6644.

Relationship Between Musical Ability and Second Language Skills Examined in Science Hall Colloquium

The relationship between musical skills and the ability to better recognize unfamiliar speech sounds when learning a second language will be examined in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

Lawrence University Professor of Psychology Terry Gottfried presents “Music and Language Learning: Relation of Musical and Linguistic Tone Perception” Tuesday, May 10 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

A specialist in the perception of speech and sound, Gottfried will discuss the findings of his recent research with Lawrence conservatory students which indicates musicians hold a significant advantage over non-musicians in identifying and producing unfamiliar speech contrasts in a foreign language.

In his study, listeners who had never studied Mandarin Chinese were presented with words that differed only in lexical tone. While non-native listeners had trouble detecting the tonal differences, the musicians were significantly more accurate in their identification and discrimination of the words. The musicians also were more successful in imitating these words than non-musicians.

Gottfried argues that abilities or skills associated with being a musician are related to skills necessary to learn a new speech sound contrast.

With the support of a grant from the Norwegian Marshall Fund Committee, Gottfried recently conducted research in Trondheim, Norway, in which he investigated factors that help or hinder language learners in speaking and understanding a second language.

Part of this research investigated differences in how Norwegian listeners, in comparison to Danes, perceive the vowel contrasts of their native and their second language. He also studied whether the use of linguistic tones in Norwegian provides native speakers of that language with an advantage in learning the lexical tones of Mandarin Chinese.

In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship by the Fulbright Scholar Program for a teaching and research position in the English department of Aarhus University in Denmark, teaching courses on the psychology of language and speech science.

A member of the Lawrence psychology department since 1986, Gottfried earned his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Minnesota.

Lawrence University Celebrates Inauguration of Jill Beck as its 15th President

For the first time in more than 25 years, Lawrence University will officially install a new president.

Formal inauguration ceremonies of Jill Beck as the 15th president in Lawrence’s 158-year history will be held Saturday, May 7 beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Delegates representing more than 50 colleges, universities and learned societies from around the nation will participate in the inaugural procession of Lawrence faculty and trustees into the chapel.

William O. Hochkammer Jr., chair of the Lawrence Board of Trustees, will deliver the inauguration’s welcome. Community greetings will be presented by Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna and Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, a 1987 Lawrence graduate.

Additional greetings will be delivered by John Bassett, president of Clark University, Beck’s alma mater, as well as individuals representing Milwaukee-Downer College alumnae and Lawrence alumni, faculty and current students.

Beck will deliver the inaugural address “Taking Flight: Exploring New Collaborations Between the Arts and Science.”

Inaugurations of college and university presidents trace their roots to 17th-century America. The custom was established by the country’s nine colonial colleges as a way of formally acknowledging a change in leadership at a school’s highest level within a context of tradition and continuity.

“A presidential inauguration is a significant event in the life of a college,” said Hochkammer, a 1966 Lawrence graduate. “It provides a wonderful opportunity to share and reflect on our role in the community and to showcase some of the people who make this institution such a special place.”

Prior to Saturday’s inauguration, Lawrence will hold a community open house on Friday, May 6. The day-long event (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.) will celebrate the academic life of the college, the connections between the arts and liberal learning and the many partnering activities engaged in by Lawrence and the Fox Cities communities.

Among the open house’s activities will be departmental displays, panel presentations or tours of all academic buildings, several art exhibitions, including a display of the recently completed Picturing Peace Project featuring photographs and poems by Appleton students and performances in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel by area kindergarten through 12th-grade students who were involved in ArtsBridge projects.

Concluding the day’s festivities will be an inaugural celebratory concert by Lawrence conservatory of music faculty. Detailed schedules of all open house activities will be available at the inauguration information desk in Main Hall on Friday (5/6) beginning at 9 a.m.

Beck was elected president on January 23, 2004 by the Lawrence Board of Trustees and began her duties on July 1 of last year, succeeding Richard Warch, who had served as president from 1979.

Prior to being named president of Lawrence, Beck held the position of director of the da Vinci Research Center for Learning Through the Arts at the University of California, Irvine. Beck founded the da Vinci Center in 2001 during her tenure (1995 2003) as UCI’s dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

A nationally recognized arts innovator, Beck also founded the ArtsBridge America program, a national model for the advancement of educational arts partnerships between universities and K-12 communities. Under her direction, the outreach program has grown from just seven students in 1996 to nearly 800 “Arts Bridge Scholars” at 21 institutions in 13 states, providing hands-on, experientially-based arts instruction to more than 30,000 school children.

Lawrence became the national headquarters of the ArtsBridge America program last year and is the only private institution among its 21 participating colleges and universities.

A native of Worcester, Mass., Beck earned a bachelor of arts degree cum laude in philosophy and art history at Clark University in 1970 and a master of arts degree in history and music from McGill University in 1976. She earned her doctorate in theatre history and criticism in 1984 from City University of New York.

Beck has written broadly on issues of arts education, as well as directed ballet and modern dance repertory extensively. During her career, Beck has been the assistant director of the dance division at The Julliard School and was the chair of the dance department at City University of New York, Connecticut College and Southern Methodist University before being appointed dean at UCI.

Beck is married to Robert Beck, a visiting professor of education at Lawrence.

Demise of Eugenics Focus of Lawrence University Biomedical Ethics Series Address

Duke University Professor Allen Buchanan will offer an alternative perspective to the popular views of the demise of the American eugenics movement and discuss the role of ethics as a discipline in the final installment of Lawrence University’s 2004-05 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.

Buchanan, professor of public policy studies and philosophy at Duke University’s Terry Stanford Institute of Public Policy, presents “What Was Really Wrong with Eugenics” Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The product of a late 19th- and early-to-mid 20th-century effort to produce superior human beings through selective breeding, the eugenics movement promoted a legislative agenda that favored legalized sterilization of the genetically flawed or socially unacceptable and prevented racial and ethnic groups from mixing.

Buchanan believes the standard view that eugenicists were utilitarians who cared little for justice and individual rights is flawed. He will argue instead that eugenicists appealed to familiar moral principles, but that they systematically distorted the application of these principles by embedding them in a web of false factual beliefs.

Buchanan also will discuss the role of scientific experts in eugenics and the public’s deference to their judgment, positing ethics as a discipline must be reexamined to avoid similar mistakes in the future. According to Buchanan, ethics should be as concerned with understanding the role of social institutions and practices in producing and transmitting factual beliefs that can either help or hinder moral judgment and reasoning as much as it is with articulating moral principles and critiquing moral justifications.

Buchanan has written or co-written six books, among them “Ethics, Efficiency and the Market” and “From Chance to Choice,” which examines ethical issues raised by the growth of genetic technology and discusses the need for justice and fairness in using such advances.

He served as the staff philosopher for the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, from 1980-83 and was a principal author of the commission’s two book-length reports on ethical issues in genetics.

Buchanan spent four years (1996-2000) as a member of the Advisory Council for the National Human Genome Research Institute and is currently the director of the Consortium on Pharmacogenetics.

Buchanan, who earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of North Carolina, joined the Duke faculty in 2002 after previous appointments at the universities of Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Duke University Public Policy Expert Discusses Just War Theory in Main Hall Forum

The parameters of Just War Theory, which provides norms for constraining world leaders’ recourse to war, will be discussed in a Lawrence University Main Hall Forum.

Allen Buchanan, professor of public policy studies and philosophy at Duke University’s Terry Stanford Institute of Public Policy, presents “Global Governance” Tuesday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Main Hall, Room 201. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Modern Just War Theory asserts war is justified only in response to an occurring or imminent unjust attack. Conversely, “preventive war” to avert a future unjust attack that is not imminent and war to establish democracy are both strictly forbidden.

In his address, Buchanan will discuss the feasibility and morality of allowing a more permissive norm within institutions designed to reduce the risks of abuse and error that have led Just War theorists to assert a blanket prohibition on preventive war and forcible democratization. He also will examine the Bush administration’s attempt to justify preventive war and forcible democratization.

A specialist in political philosophy, Buchanan is the author of six books, including 2003’s “Justice, Legitimacy and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law” in which he advocates justice, not simply peace among states, as the primary goal of the international legal system and rejects the notion that a state can conduct its foreign policies exclusively according to “national interest.”

Buchanan, who earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of North Carolina, joined the Duke faculty in 2002 after previous appointments at the universities of Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Influence of Women in his Work Examined in Lawrence University Lecture

Frank Lloyd Wright’s pattern of eliminating the role and important contributions of several women to his work in presentations of himself will be examined in a Lawrence University address.

David Sokol, the director of museum studies in the department of art history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, presents “The Exclusion of Women from the Narrative of Frank Lloyd Wright” Thursday, May 12 at 4:30 p.m. in Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The talk will focus on Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill., one of the best known and widely admired buildings of the 20th century. Built in 1905 and now a national historic landmark, the church has been analyzed and illustrated in dozens of monographs, hundreds of books on 20th-century architecture and American architectural surveys.

In his autobiography, Wright detailed how the commission for the Unity Temple came about and how he developed its design. While nearly all scholars have accepted that story at face value, Sokol will argue Wright’s presentation is inaccurate in many details and how it overlooks the role and contributions of several women who deserve more credit.

A long-time chairperson of the Historic Preservation Commission of Oak Park, Ill., Sokol is the co-author of a guide to the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District in Oak Park and recently completed a monograph on the Unity Temple.

Sokol has written widely about American painting and architecture and was the first curator of the Terra Museum of American Art. He has taught American art and museology at UIC since 1971, serving as chair of the art history department the past 17 years.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Hunter College and a Ph.D. in American and modern art and architecture at New York University.

His appearance is sponsored by the Fine Art Colloquium, Main Hall Forum and the Gender Studies Department.

Twice as Nice: Two Lawrence University Vocalists Cited by Down Beat Magazine

Who could blame Lawrence University voice teacher Chris Salerno for feeling doubly happy these days?

For the first time in its history, two Lawrence students — Charlie Christenson and Megan Hamm — have been recognized for excellence in the same year by Down Beat magazine.

Christenson, a senior from Neenah, and Hamm, a junior from Madison, were individually cited as “outstanding performers” in the college jazz voice category in Down Beat’s 28th annual student music awards contest. Both are students in Salerno’s voice studio.

The awards — known as “DBs” — are considered among the highest honors accorded college and high school music students. Announced in the magazine’s June edition that hit newsstands May 2, Christenson’s and Hamm’s DBs are the 11th and 12th earned by Lawrence students since first winning one in 1985.

Prior to Christenson and Hamm, the Lawrence University Jazz Singers were honored with their second Down Beat honor in 2002, sharing the “outstanding performance” award in the college division vocal group category.

“It is incredibly exciting to have two of my jazz voice students receive these kind of outstanding national awards,” said Salerno, who also had a hand in the Jazz Singers’ 2002 DB as the group’s co-director. “Charlie and Megan are two of the most talented and self-motivated individuals I have ever had the pleasure to work with. It is a great honor to have their talents recognized by Down Beat and I couldn’t be happier for them. They’re both so deserving.”

“All credit must go to Megan, Charlie and vocal jazz professor Chris Salerno,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence. “Within the scope of her part-time faculty appointment on the conservatory faculty, Chris has expanded Lawrence vocal jazz offerings well beyond the Jazz Singers to incorporate a special focus upon jazz solo singing.

“Since the Lawrence Jazz Singers have already been recognized twice in the DB competition, it’s great to see our individual soloists earn these highly coveted national awards,” Sturm added. ” I’m particularly happy to see Chris being recognized nationally for the superb jazz educator that she is.”

For Christenson, winning a DB means one less thing on his to-do list.

“When I was a sophomore, I told one of my friends that my only goal at Lawrence was to win a Down Beat award before I left, which, of course, we kind of all just laughed about at the time,” said Christenson, a 2001 graduate of Neenah High School. “But now that it’s actually happened, I just can’t quite seem to wrap my mind around it. Some of my all-time favorite musicians have been linked with this award in the past. I’m so proud to be a part of that tradition.”

A trumpet player and classical singer in high school, Christenson credits a Bobby McFerrin concert at Lawrence for his jazz epiphany.

“I came to Lawrence wanting to be a choir director, which is still a definite possibility, but after attending a Bobby McFerrin concert my freshman year, I decided jazz was something I wanted to try,” said the music education major who plays piano with the LU Jazz Band and with Vale Todo, the Lawrence salsa band. “I hadn’t played or listened to hardly any jazz before coming to Lawrence, but I liked the freedom that jazz musicians got to play with while they performed.”

Christenson displayed some of that musical freedom on the audition tape he submitted to Down Beat, recording four pieces for the competition: “Seven Steps to Heaven,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Beyond the Sea” and “Caravan.”

“I recorded the tape with my usual ‘gigging’ trio of John Sutton (bass) and Nick Kraus (drums),” said Christenson. “We recorded the tracks live with no overdubbing. I improvised on all of the tracks and on ‘Caravan,’ I improvised using a poem by Allen Ginsberg called ‘Vision 1948.’”

The first time proved to be the charm for Hamm. Her audition tape was the first solo recording of any kind that she had ever made. Accompanied by students Karl McComas-Reichl on bass, Eric Cline on piano and Zach Preston on drums, Hamm sang Miles Davis’ up-tempo tune “Four” and the classic Thelonious Monk ballad “’Round Midnight.”

Hamm, who took up the piano at the age of six, got turned on to jazz by listening to Ella Fitzgerald scat on a rendition of “How High the Moon.”

“I joined my high school’s jazz band as a junior, mainly to play the piano but I did some occasional singing, too,” said the 2002 graduate of Madison East High School. “I’ve been performing with the Lawrence’s Jazz Singers since my freshman year and have been taking jazz voice lessons with Ms. Salerno for more than a year.”

News of the awards put Christenson’s powers of concentration to the test, while Hamm was only partially caught off guard.

“Chris (Salerno) called my cell phone while I was in class taking a psychology mid-term exam,” said Christenson. “She was yelling about how proud and ecstatic she was about us winning the award. I called Megan later and we both talked about how amazing it was that we had won together.

“The last few years, Megan and I have had a lot of the same teachers and have spent a lot of time together on jazz singing, performing and listening to music with each other. Now we have both won this award and I can’t think of anyone else in the voice department whom I would rather share this sort of honor with.”

“When I heard that Charlie and I had both won Down Beat awards, I was only half surprised because I kind of figured Charlie would get one at some point,” said Hamm, also a music education major. “It’s really cool that we both won one in the same year. I was so excited and surprised to learn that I’d won. I never would have thought it was possible.”

This fall, Christenson will spend a semester teaching music at an inner city Chicago school through the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Urban Education program. While on the program, he’s hoping to hook up with one of his idols, Kurt Elling, who lives in Chicago.

“I hope this award leads to many more great opportunities and experiences,” said Christenson. “I’m ready to get out in public and show people what I can do.”

With another year of school to go, Hamm is still trying to sort out which direction in which to steer her musical talents.

“I’m studying classical voice as well as jazz” said Hamm, who was cast in the role of Hansel in Lawrence’s opera production of “Hansel and Gretel” earlier this year. “Lawrence is a really unique place in that sense because I’m able to study both, which is rare for vocalists.

“I’m still swimming around in the middle, because I enjoy both styles a great deal. I’ve decided I’m not going to take the Down Beat award as some kind of ‘sign’ that I should focus on jazz. I’m just hoping that if I am forced into one area or the other, that I won’t have to make that decision for long, long time.”