September 8, 2008
New Student Government
Last semester’s historic student government election, when a record 1,525 votes (a 20 percent increase over the spring 2007 election) were cast, certainly seems to reflect the current upswing in political interest throughout the nation.
When the votes were counted, the PHD slate had won both control of the Student Government Executive by a 100-vote margin and a majority of seats in the Student Government Assembly.
Promising to work together to represent fairly the CLAS community, President Mark Faiena and Vice-President Miriam Schwartz said they will actively participate in the different College committees that they are mandated to serve.
“My role is to be the voice for all the CLAS students,” Faiena said. “And there are things that, in the opinion of our fellow students, need to be improved.”
But they were quick to note they cannot do this alone.
“We need to draw people in and get them involved in student government because we need their ideas,” Schwartz said.
To contact the executives, visit their offices in 311 Student Center or e-mail them at mark.faiena@gmail.com or miriamschwartz@hotmail.com.
in cooperation with the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities
present
Jhumpa Lahiri:
Interpreter of Maladies
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
9:45 – 10:45 a.m.
Whitman Auditorium
(Doors open at 9:15 a.m.)
Jhumpa Lahiri was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in literature for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection that explores the issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants. Born in London, Lahiri moved to Rhode Island as a young child with her Bengali parents. Although they have lived in the United States for more than thirty years, Lahiri observes that her parents retain “a sense of emotional exile,” and Lahiri herself grew up with conflicting expectations… to be Indian by Indians and American by Americans.” Lahiri’s ability to convey the oldest cultural conflicts in the most immediate fashion and to achieve the voices of many different characters are among the unique qualities that have captured the attention of a wide audience. Lahiri’s other books include The Namesake (2003) and, more recently, Unaccustomed Earth, which received the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award in 2008.
The Department of English,
in cooperation with the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities,
presents:
Eric Alterman:
Reclaiming Liberalism
Monday, September 15, 2008
3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Woody Tanger Auditorium
Brooklyn College Library
Eric Alterman is a professor of journalism in the Brooklyn College English Department and was named a distinguished professor of English by the CUNY Board of Trustees in 2007. His latest book, Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America, was published last spring. As a journalist, author, and political blogger, he is both revered and hated, depending on the political viewpoint of the observer. Staunch conservatives regard him as an implacable opponent, but he has also feuded with some who wear the liberal label. Equally comfortable in the classroom and in TV studios, Alterman was hired as a political commentator by MSNBC in 1996. Altercation, the daily weblog he started under the network’s auspices in 2002, was picked up by Media Matter for America in 2006. He is also a regular columnist for the liberal weekly The Nation.
His first book, Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (HarperCollins, 1992), won the George Orwell Award. In addition to Why We’re Liberals, his seventh title, he has published When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences (Viking, 2004), and What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News (Basic Books, 2003). Before joining BC, Alterman was an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University and Columbia University.
For more information about either event, call the Wolfe Institute at (718) 951-5847, or check our Web site: http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/wolfe/