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Pursuing Justice and Preserving Open Debate

Recently, over 150 notable journalists, writers, and academics signed a letter in Harper’s Magazine expressing concern over increasing intolerance on campuses, in newsrooms, and throughout our society. Numerous responses to this letter have raised important questions about freedom of expression and its limits, including the very possibility of truly “open debate” in a society where historic inequities have long suppressed the voices of those on the margins. Learn More ›

Public Square

Calling on the Humanities in the Midst of a Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has engulfed the planet, most public discourse in the United States has focused on epidemiological characteristics of the disease, the strain it has placed on global healthcare resources and supply chains, the economic devastation it has wrought, and the merits of government response. Often unnoticed in those conversations, however, are the ways that those discussions are steeped in humanistic as much as scientific terms. Learn More ›

Public Square

Loss, Grief, and the Humanities in the Time of Pandemic

The COVID-19 virus and the social distancing response have led to extraordinary disruptions in shared public life. During this time of grief and loss, many are turning to the arts for emotional support, but the crisis is also a place for the humanities. Where the arts provide individual expression and connection, the humanities help us make meaning and find understanding on a collective level. Learn More ›

Public Square

100 Years and Counting: The Continuing Struggle for Gender Equality

The centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment’s passage and ratification seems an apt occasion to reflect on the long and ongoing struggle to achieve equality for women and to consider how the ideals of of women’s rights advocates remain unrealized. In fact, scholars need look no further than their campus environments to see how gender-based inequities persist. Learn More ›