Liberal Arts in an Unequal Society

I would like to cordially invite you and your organization to an exciting new interdisciplinary conference occurring this November. This two-day opportunity, titled Liberal Arts in an Unequal Society, will examine the roles and responsibilities of liberal arts in our world. America, long viewed as a beacon of equality and opportunity, has entered a new gilded age. The recent reemergence of vast and unprecedented inequalities in wealth and income, accompanied by a steep decline in social mobility, form an inescapable context for any discussion of the value of liberal arts education in the contemporary United States.

 A group of leading scholars, policy-makers and activists will convene for a major national conference to discus how liberal arts institutions should respond to in­creased inequality. Specifi­cally, participants will address four inter­con­nected themes:

•      – The nature and causes of the rapid growth of inequality in the contemporary US, and its conse­quences for Amer­ican society, culture and politics;
•      -The historical role of liberal arts institutions in shaping a liberal culture in the United States and the importance of this culture, not only in sustaining, but also in expanding access to American democ­racy;
•     – The fact that access to liberal education also serves as an important vehicle for the transmis­sion of unequal cultural capital and privilege; and
•      -The vital question of how liberal arts colleges can work effectively to respond to and counteract in­e­quality in their own institutions, surrounding communities, and in American society as a whole.

 

Speakers include:

•        ·      Dr. Prudence L. Carter (Professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education)
  ·      Dr. Rick Fantasia (Professor in Sociology at Smith College)
  ·      Andrew White (Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning, and Measurement at New York City Administration for Children’s Services)
  ·      Dr. Nancy Fraser (Henry A. & Louise Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research)
     ·      Dr. Thomas August (Professor of English Literature at New York University)
  ·      Dr. Donald Pease (Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, Chair of the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College)
  ·       Joshua Bogin (Director of the Magnet School Program, Springfield Public Schools, and formerly lead attorney on the Yonkers desegregation case)
  ·       Rick Magder (Executive Director at Groundwork Hudson Valley)
  ·      Dr. Mark Warren (Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts, Boston)
  ·      Dr. David Peritz (Professor of Politics at Sarah Lawrence College)

 

The conference is hosted by Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, and will take place Friday November 14^th – Saturday November 15^th. 

For more information, please visit: 
http://www.slc.edu/laus/

To register, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-liberal-arts-in-an-unequal-society-conference-registration-13485410225

 

I can also send paper posters with more information for distribution and to hang in offices and student spaces and a digital copy. Please let me know which you would prefer.

Any questions? Email me at [email protected]  

Thank you for your time,
Chris Hoffman
Sarah Lawrence College