Tough questions at core of Senior Symposium by David O. Freier, Director of the Senior Symposium and associate professor of biomedical sciences and biology Students ponder such questions as:
Should governments limit the number of children a couple can have? Should the wealthy pay more taxes to support those less well off? Should war be banned?
Read. Write. Think. Speak. Since 1976 these elements have been the focus of Senior Sym- posium, Lynchburg College’s senior capstone course. Students read, write, think, and speak to find a deeper understanding of broad con- temporary issues. Over the past several years the course has
focused on thematic topics such as the econ- omy (2009-10), sustainability (2010-11), and in the current academic year, population, considered broadly. As the global population has recently been estimated to have topped seven billion, questions relating to the effects of this population milestone locally, nation- ally, and globally are important for college students to consider. Within the fall semester these questions are shaped around the topics of conflict and violence, consumption and consumerism, and resources.
What is evil?
For example, at the end of the four weeks dealing with conflict, Dr. Tim Meinke, asso- ciate professor of political science, lectured on
“What is evil?” He asked students to consider how we define evil, juxtaposing the American Civil War against modern genocides of the twentieth century, specifically those of the Holocaust and Rwanda. This developed a line of conversation including discussions of capital punishment, assisted suicide, the le- gality of war, and humankind’s propensity for violence. These topics were linked to the American
rate of consumption compared to other human societies, and begged the question of the role of conflict and violence in sustaining Amer- ica’s disproportionate use of global resources. This conversation continued into the spring
semester as the students shaped their conver- sation and writing around the topics of health, water, and education. Anchoring discussions
34 LC MAGAZINE Spring 2012
for the year is “An essay on the principle of population” by Thomas R. Malthus. Discussions such as these allow students to
work their way toward achieving a deeper un- derstanding of the thematic topic, engendering their continued growth as individuals, and encouraging their first steps as engaged, active members of the larger global community.
A unique capstone
Senior Symposium is a unique program. Very few colleges and universities offer anything like it as a senior capstone. It provides a chance for the entire graduating class to think criti- cally across disciplines and be exposed to ideas that they might not otherwise encounter. This shared experience helps to create more informed citizens. The course is structured around a semester-
long lecture series and readings from core or classical texts. The public lectures are given at noon on Monday in the Hall Campus Center Memorial Ballroom. All students and faculty participating in the course gather for these lectures. Lecturers include campus faculty as well as outside guest speakers from the local community, the Central Virginia region, and beyond. These individuals talk about their special expertise or interests; the students’ responsibility is to respond with a short ar- gumentation paper centered on a topic of the individual student’s choice, which integrates the lecture and the paired readings to support their position or argument. On the Wednesday following the lecture
the students convene in smaller sessions of up to twenty-four, each led by a member of the faculty. Each week the students direct the discussion of the issues raised by the lecture and readings, with two students taking turns serving as discussion leaders. This format pro- vides ways for the students to explore issues that
are broad and interdisciplinary, each student bringing his or her expertise garnered from indi- vidual majors as well as general education courses.
Repetition works
As the course progresses through the semester, the conversations become recursive as topics and ideas continue to present themselves and be examined and reexamined. This process gives students opportunities to think and rethink their individual positions relative to the broad theme and in relation to their peers and the classical texts assigned for reading during the semester. These readings are generally drawn from
the ten-volume Lynchburg College Sympo- sium Readings series, a collection of edited works by faculty members that draw on great books or core texts from a variety of fields ranging from education, art, and international relations, to poverty, leadership and ethics, and the natural sciences. Senior Symposium provides a valuable
experience to the students of Lynchburg College as echoed in the words of a current student: “This course has certainly helped me to think about things I had never thought about before and helped me to see things from the perspective of someone who was not me or a member of my family or my friend.” The course asks them to hone and apply
the skills they have been learning during their undergraduate careers. The recursive and in- terdisciplinary nature of Senior Symposium provides students with a forum to explore their own ideas on current topical issues, reflecting on them in the light of classical texts and public lectures to advance their in- tellectual development in ways that prepare them for the world beyond the borders of the Lynchburg College campus.
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