Public Affairs Discussion Group

The Design of Arab Universities as a Political Act

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, Ph.D. - Associate Professor and Beamer-Schneider Chair in Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University




Friday September 17, 2010
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall - Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Why are universities created and supported? "Education" is too general, and perhaps too idealistic, an answer. At various times and places the dominant reasons have included, "to increase the prestige of private donors," "economic development" "to develop a leadership class," "to make us modern," "because it is demanded of the government," or, "so we can educate our youth without sending them abroad where they will develop dangerous foreign ideas and habits." We are currently seeing a boom in development of universities particularly in the Gulf States. What is that about? Professor Bendik-Keymer taught at the University of Sharjah from 2004-2008, and will share his observations and inferences.

Attention: Parking options for visitors from beyond campus include the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard, the small lot on Adelbert Road just uphill from Euclid Ave, and other lots on campus. Every Friday a few spaces are available for visitors with mobility concerns, in the visitors parking lot next to Crawford Hall.

More About Our Guest....

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer is Elmer G. Beamer and Hubert H. Schneider Professor in Ethics and Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department. He studied with Susan Neiman as an undergrad at Yale and with Martha Nussbaum, Candace Vogler and Charles Larmore as a graduate student at University of Chicago, where he won the Booth Prize for Teaching and the Ross Trust Fellowship for World Service as well as serving as a fellow in the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion.

Although having written mostly on environmental philosophy, he has a long standing interest in philosophy of education, having been a researcher at the Erikson Institute in Chicago for many years. He has written on curricular development for the World Bank and helped build the Department of International Studies at American University of Sharjah, U.A.E., the region's first Middle States accredited school.

His books include The Ecological Life: Discovering Citizenship and a Sense of Humanity and the Virtues of the Future: Climate Change, Restoration and the Challenge of Adapting Humanity, being finalized with Allen Thompson and a dozen other contributors. He will teach a course on Climate Ethics in the Spring.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

September 24: Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research (Washington DC): The Budget Deficit Panic.

October 1: Ashwini Sehgal MD, Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health Improvement and Director, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, CWRU and Metrohealth: The U.S. News and World Report Hospital Rankings.

October 8: Karen Gahl-Mills, Executive Director, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture: How the Arts Levy is Spent.

October 15: Kathryn C. Lavelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs: Sovereign Debt and Sovereign Default: International Institutions in the Developed and Developing Worlds.

October 22: Professor Karen Beckwith, Assistant Professor Justin Buchler, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Andrew Lucker, Department of Political Science: Midterm Elections Forecast.

October 29: Special Inamori Center Event, as part of International Peace and War Summit: see http://www.case.edu/provost/inamori/peacesummit/.

November 5: Kelly McMann, Associate Professor of Political Science: Unrest in Kyrgyzstan and Its Implications for the War in Afghanistan.

November 12: Max Mehlman, Professor of Law: Why We Need Death Panels.

November 19: Jessica Green, Assistant Professor of Political Science: Global Responses to Greenhouse Gases.

December 3: Paul Ernsberger, Associate Professor of Nutrition: Health At Any Size.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. Overflow parking is also available in the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.

September 13, 2010

Upcoming Events

STATES' UPRISING: THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF HEALTH CARE REFORM

THE HONORABLE RICHARD CORDRAY ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF OHIO AND THE HONORABLE THOMAS FISHER SOLICITOR GENERAL STATE OF INDIANA

Friday September 17, 2010, 4-5:30 p.m., Moot Court Room, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio

On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordability Act, which represents the first comprehensive federal health care reform in the history of the United States. The legislation focuses on expansion of coverage and aims to improve the quality of the nation's health care system.

But it is not without controversy. More than twenty states are challenging the constitutionality of the bill; Indiana is one of them. The state of Ohio supports the legislation.

Sponsored by the Office of the President, Office of Government and Community Relations, Center for Policy Studies, and the School of Law. For more information please visit the Center for Policy Studies web site.

2010 Midterm Election Preview

September 24, 2010 7:30-9 p.m., Mandel Center Building, Room 115, 11402 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH

A panel discussion featuring: Jerry Austin one of America's most experienced and most successful strategists and advisors, having operated his own marketing and political consulting firm for more than 30 years and Mark Weaver a national political communications expert with more than two decades of high-level experience, having counseled clients at the national level and in 16 states.

For more information please visit the Center for Policy Studies web site.

The Budget Deficit: How Big an Issue, and What Should Be Done About It.

September 25, 2010 12:30-2 p.m., Mandel Center Building, Room 115, 11402 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH

A panel discussion featuring: Josh Gordon, Ph.D. the Policy Director of The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to educating the public about federal budget issues and their consequences for the future and Dean Baker, Ph.D., a nationally known economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

For more information please visit the Center for Policy Studies web site.