| LAS 400: | The University and the Public Sphere: Public Intellectuals and Their Social Influence |
Course Schedule
This schedule is subject to change. It should be checked regularly.
| January 8 | Stanley Fish/Cary Nathenson: Coursepack reading 1 (Kant) |
| January 10 | Sander Gilman (UIC): Friedrich Nietzsche, excerpt from “On the Utility and Liability of History for Life” in Unfashionable Observations |
| January 15 | Gerald Graff (UIC): Graff, “Preaching to the Converted” from English Inside and Out, New York: Routledge, 1993; Coursepack readings 2-5, 12 (Sartre, Jacoby, Nation review, Bourdieu, Graff) |
| January 17 | Barbara Ransby (UIC): bell hooks and Cornell West, pages 131-163 from Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life |
| January 22 | Phillip Brian Harper: Anthony Grafton, “The Public Intellectual and the American University: Robert Morss Lovett Revisited,” The American Scholar 70.4 (Autumn 2001): 41-54 |
| January 24 | Phillip Brian Harper: Scott S. Greenberger, “Jackson Steps into Harvard Dispute; Seeks ‘Clarity’ on Diversity Policy,” Boston Globe, Dec 21, 2001, p. B4; David Abel, “Harvard ‘Dream Team’ Roiled: Black Scholars, Summers in Rift,” Boston Globe Dec 22, 2001, p. A1; Scott S. Greenberger, “Jackson Pressures Harvard; Civil Rights Leader Set to Champion Affirmative Action,” Boston Globe, January 1, 2002, p. B2; Megan Tench, “2 Black Leaders Confront Harvard: Jackson, Sharpton Demand Answers,” Boston Globe, January 2, 2002, p. B1; David Abel, “Harvard in Bid to Ease Tensions; Black Professors, Summers Meet,” Boston Globe, January 4, 2002, p. B1; Pamela Ferdinand, “Harvard President Acts to Quell Furor; Statement Supporting Diversity Follows Rebuke of Black Faculty Member,” Washington Post, Jan 3, 2002, p. A03; Jacques Steinberg, “At Odds With Harvard President, Black-Studies Stars Eye Princeton,” New York Times Dec 29, 2001, p. 1.; Kate Zernike, “Black Scholars Mending a Rift With Harvard,” New York Times, January 4, 2002, p. 1; Coursepack readings 6, 16 (Lightman & Pinker, Garber). |
| January 29 | Phillip Brian Harper: Bill Readings, The University in Ruins (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996), chapters 1 through 3, “Introduction,” “The Idea of Excellence,” and “The Decline of the Nation-State,” pp. 1-53 |
| January 31 | Phillip Brian Harper: Jon H. Roberts and James Turner, The Sacred and the Secular University (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000), chapters 4 and 5, “The Triumph of the Humanities,” and “The Boon and the Bane of Specialization,” pp. 75-94 |
| February 5 | Phillip Brian Harper: Adolph Reed, “What Are the Drums Saying, Booker? The Current Crisis of the Black Intellectual,” The Village Voice 11 April 1995: 31-36 |
| February 7 | Phillip Brian Harper: Cornel West, “The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual,” Critical Quarterly 29.4 (Winter 1987): 39-52 |
| February 12 | Bill Ayers (UIC): Ralph Ellison, excerpt from Invisible Man |
| February 14 | Frances Aparicio (UIC) |
| February 19 | coursepack readings 9, 10. |
| February 21 | coursepack reading 15. |
| February 26 | Elizabeth Taylor (Chicago Tribune) |
| February 28 | Francis Cardinal George, Archdiocese of Chicago |
| March 5 | Michael Bellesiles (Emory University) |
| March 7 | Michael Eric Dyson (DePaul University) |
| March 12 | Scott Turow, Supreme Court decisions on the death penalty: Furman v. Georgia; Gregg v. Georgia; McCleskey v. Kemp |
| March 14 | John McCarter (Field Museum) |
| March 18-22 | Spring Break |
| March 26/28 | Barbara Ehrenreich |
| April 2/4 | Barbara Ehrenreich |
| April 9/11 | Barbara Ehrenreich |
| April 16 | Richard Rorty: Richard Posner, Public Intellectuals, chapter 1 “Setting the stage” (pp. 17-40) and “Conclusion: improving the market” (pp. 387-397) |
| April 18 | Richard Rorty: James Rorty, “The socialization of muckraking,” Partisan Review, Fall 1939 (pp. 90-102) |
| April 23 | Richard Rorty: William James, “The social value of the college-bred” and “Address on the Philippine question,” both reprinted in William James, Essays, Correspondence and Reviews (published by Harvard UP as part of the Complete Works) |
| April 25 | Richard Rorty: Robert Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, pp. 293-318 (on the Lippman-Dewey controversy) |
| April 29 - May 3 | Finals Week |