Disputed Questions Forum | “Academic Freedom: Fact or Useful Fiction?”

Please join us on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 5:00 pm in Kennedy 112 for the Disputed Questions Forum, “Academic Freedom: Fact or Useful Fiction?” Our discussants are Drs. Jeremy Geddert, Maryanne Leone, Sam Stoner, and Steven Theroux.

Proudly sponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Disputed Questions Forum provides a venue for contested intellectual, moral, and spiritual questions to be discussed and debated in a way that honors the distinctive dignity of the human person. Animated by the belief that each person is created in the image of a God who is both logos and love, this forum is based on a simple premise: the highest compliment you can pay a being who is endowed with logos (reason) is to take his or her thoughts, ideas, and reasoned arguments seriously.

Furthering truly humanizing conversations in a way befitting our Catholic liberal arts inheritance, this Forum takes its name from an impressive academic exercise that characteristically marked the internal life of medieval Catholic universities. Regularly, a magister (master) would stand up before the entire university, set forth a brief opening lecture on a controversial topic, and respond to objections and counter arguments proffered by other masters, bachelors, and students. The Forum invites the entire Assumption community to listen to—not just hear—diverse thinkers debate timely all-too-human questions and concerns. Today, most universities reflexively blink when confronted with the opportunity to discuss hotly debated contemporary concerns in a respectful, civil, and serious way. We are fortunate to be members of an ennobling educational community that can—and does—do this with intellectual courage, intellectual generosity, and intellectual humility.

This lecture is free and open to the public.