UW-Madison will host a number of national figures starting in November in its annual Distinguished Lecture Series.
2001-’02 DLS Speaker ListActivists & Entertainers Nov. 14 Slavery Reparations Nov. 20 Slavery Reparations Advocate Dec. 4 Filmmaker Feb. 26 Feminist Art Educators March 12 Author/Holocaust Survivor April 16 |
“This has the potential to be the best DLS we’ve ever had,” said Tim Lindl, a director of the DLS committee and a member of the Wisconsin Union Directorate.
After a lengthy process of narrowing down over 400 nominated speakers, a committee of UW-Madison students ended with a list of 10 potential speakers. This year, two of the top three choices, Spike Lee, a film director, and Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author, will be featured.
“We’re really pleased [with the choice of Wiesel],” said Jamie Berman, assistant director of the Hillel Foundation. “I think it’s great for campus, for Hillel, for everyone.”
Members of Hillel worked with Lindl to arrange Wiesel’s appearance, Berman said.
“It’s been a great experience working with the Union Directorate,” she said. “We’re all looking to build bridges across campus and this is the way to do it.”
David Horowitz, a conservative author and opponent of slavery reparations, will likely be the source of controversy when he speaks Nov. 20, Lindl said.
Horowitz caused a string of protests on college campuses, including UW-Madison, last spring when he placed an ad entitled “Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery are Bad for Blacks—And Racist Too” in student newspapers.
“[Some people] obviously are not going to respond positively [to the choice of Horowitz] being that Madison is as liberal a town as it is,” Lindl said. “The point of DLS is to bring out the opinions that aren’t usually heard on campus and put them in peoples’ faces.”
Shortly after Horowitz speaks, Randall Robinson, a slavery reparations activist, will offer an opposing view.
“I actually wanted to have them on the same night, debating, on the same stage,” Lindl said.
Michael Franklin, a member of the Diversity Education Staff for the Multicultural Student Coalition, said he thought the debate that will arise because of controversial speakers will help to reinforce opinions that people already have.
“I would care more if [Horowitz] was willing to offer solutions to the problems he’ll just be discussing,” Franklin said.
“If people are just discussing problems, it does students a disservice. It doesn’t help students learn to work together. ... That should be the goal of a university community,” he said.
