There were several interesting meetings on campus this week, all of which I missed.
The two that I should have gone to, in particular, were the academic freedom panel on Tuesday and the all-COLs meeting on Thursday.
Are there any readers out there who might post a report?
As I write this post, I stikes me that we should do this as a regular feature of campus life. Someone at these meetings should volunteer to take notes and post a small summary and commentary on the web. Anyone want to sign up for that duty?
**Tony Palmeri has done part of this by posting Miles McGuire's comments on his website.
**Update # 2, The A-T also has a brief story about the meeting. Tom Lammers pointed this out in his comments. I really should consistantly look at the paper.
How did other panelists and audience members respond? Were there many people there?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I was also a member of the panel. I did not prepare formal remarks to be read, but spoke extemporaneously. Thus, I cannot offer a transcript.
My theme was that "with great power comes great responsibility." Our academic freedom carries with it an obligation to be honest about facts and objective in our interpretations.
I compared the methods of investigators who come to a conclusion a priori, then cherry-pick data to support it, to a game like King-of-the-Hill or Capture-the-Flag: secure a position and defend it against all comers. This is suitable in some endeavors, where matters of taste rule ("De gustibus non disputandum"). But when there are actual facts to be discovered and interpreted, I preferred the hypothetico-deductive methods of science, where conclusions are drawn a posteriori after considering all evidence.
About 18 people heard the panel, including the Chancellor. The Advance-Titan covered it.
Post a Comment