News & Events 2008 Events

Left to right: Paul Rieckhoff, Todd Nichols, Matt Flavin and Michael Proctor (red tie) speak at Amherst College on Feb. 29, 2008.

Amherst College hosted a panel discussion titled “From Campus to Country: Why We Chose to Serve in the Military after Amherst” with alumni and members of the armed forces Matt Flavin '02, Todd Nichols '99, Michael Proctor '02 and Paul Rieckhoff '98 on Friday, Feb. 29, in Cole Assembly Room of Amherst’s Converse Hall at 4:30 p.m. The event, which was free and open to the public, was part of Amherst’s ongoing effort to promote meaningful discussion of the complex issues associated with the nation’s military, as well as honor those who serve. The discussion was dedicated to the memory of Navy lieutenant Joshua Walter “Max” Gross ’98, one of three crew members who died Jan. 16 in a helicopter crash in Corpus Christi, Texas. The event is sponsored by the college’s President’s Office.

	Hear an audio recording of the panel's presentation
	Hear an audio recording of the panel's question-and-answer session
	Read this event's news release, including details on the four alumni panelists and their service

The Fall 2008 Colloquium on the American Founding was held at Amherst College September 26-27, 2008. Audio from selected events is available below. For more information, visit the Committee for the American Founding's Web site. 

Selected Audio:

• George Marlin, COO of the Philadelphia Trust and author: "Who Killed New York?"
• R. Ted Cruz, Solicitor-General of Texas: "On Medellin v. Texas"
• George Nash '67, historian, Herbert Hoover biographer and former president of the Philadelphia Society: "The Puzzle of Herbert Hoover: Conservative or Liberal?"
• George Marlin, COO of the Philadelphia Trust and author: “The Emergence of the Conservative Party in New York in the 1960's -- and the Reshaping of Republicans”
• Edward N. Ney Professor in American Institutions Hadley Arkes, "Obama and the Audacity of Deceit"

David Mayhew '58 speaks at Amherst College on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

David Mayhew '58, Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, delivered a talk titled “American Presidential Elections: The Historical Perspective” at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Amherst College’s Pruyne Lecture Hall. The discussion was free and open to the public.

	Hear an audio recording of Mayhew's talk (1:17:16)
	Read the news release for Mayhew's talk

Political Analysts Dee Dee Myers (left) and Nicolle Wallace (right) speak in Pruyne Lecture Hall at Amherst College on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008.

Dee Dee Myers, former Clinton White House press secretary, and Nicolle Wallace, former Bush White House communications director, participated in a discussion titled “Hot Buttons—and Who’s Pushing Them” at a forum at Amherst College on Wednesday, Jan. 16. The event, which took place on campus at 4 p.m. in Fayerweather Hall’s Pruyne Lecture Hall, was part of the Amherst College Colloquium Series (ACCS) and was free and open to the public. 

	Hear an audio recording of the first half of the event (00:52:43)
	Hear an audio recording of the second half of the event (00:52:41)
	Read the news release for this event

E.J. Dionne (left) and David Brooks (right) speak on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008, in Cole Assembly Room at Amherst College.

David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, and E. J. Dionne Jr., columnist for The Washington Post, participated in a discussion titled “What Do We Mean by ‘America?’ Liberalism, Conservatism and the Future of the Culture Wars” at a forum at Amherst College on Monday, Jan. 21. The event, which took place on campus at 4 p.m. in Converse Hall’s Cole Assembly Room, was part of the Amherst College Colloquium Series (ACCS) and was free and open to the public. 

	View a photo gallery of this event
	Hear an audio recording of the first half of this event (00:45:59)
	Hear an audio recording of the second half of this event (00:52:14)
	Read the news release for this event

Christopher Hill speaks in Johnson Chapel on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2008.

Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state in the bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, spoke on “The Ethics of Diplomacy: Conscience and Pragmatism in Foreign Affairs” on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. Hill is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service whose most recent assignment was as ambassador to the Republic of Korea. On Feb. 14, 2005, he was named head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.

	Hear an audio recording of this event (01:08:01)
	Read the news release for this event
	View an image gallery of this event

Joseph Stiglitz '64 (right) and William Easterly discuss global poverty at Amherst College on Thursday, April 3.

Joseph E. Stiglitz ’64, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics and professor of economics at Columbia University, and William Easterly, former research economist at the World Bank, participated in a discussion titled “Reducing Global Poverty” at Amherst College on Thursday, April 3. The event, an open forum which took place on campus at 7 p.m. in Converse Hall’s Cole Assembly Room, was part of the Amherst College Colloquium Series (ACCS).

	Hear an audio recording of this talk (William Easterly opens the discussion and is the first voice heard. The running time of this file is 1:23:06.)
	Read the news release for this event
	View a gallery of photos from this event

Left to right: Cullen Murphy '74, Wesley Clark and Andrew J. Bacevich speak on "Reinstating the National Draft" at Amherst College on April 5, 2008.

Wesley K. Clark, 2004 presidential candidate and retired four-star U.S. Army General, and Andrew J. Bacevich, Boston University professor of international relations and former U.S. Army Colonel, participated in a discussion titled “Reinstating the National Draft” at Amherst College on Saturday, April 5. The event, which took place on campus at 1 p.m. in Johnson Chapel, was part of the Amherst College Colloquium Series (ACCS). Joseph E. Stiglitz ’64, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, joined the discussion, which was moderated by Cullen Murphy '74. 

	Hear audio of Andrew Bacevich's presentation
	Hear audio of Wesley Clark's presentation
	Hear audio of Joseph E. Stiglitz ’64's presentation and the question-and-answer session
	View an image gallery of this event
	Read the news release for this event

Diane Ravitch speaks at Amherst College on April 14, 2008.

Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education and current research professor of education at New York University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., delivered a talk Monday, April 14, titled “The Perils of School Reform” in Paino Lecture Hall in Amherst College’s Earth Science and Museum of Natural History Building at 7:30 p.m. The event, the John J. McCloy ’16 Lecture, was free and open to the public.

	Hear an audio recording of Ravitch's presentation
	Hear an audio recording of the question-and-answer session
	Read the news release for this event
	Read a transcript of Ravitch's presentation

Susan Snively, the director of the Writing Center at Amherst College and associate dean of students, read from her work at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, in Cole Assembly Room of Amherst College’s Converse Hall. The reading marked Snively’s retirement after 27 years of service to the college and will be a celebration of her work and life at Amherst.

	Read an article in The Amherst Student about Dean Snively
	Read the news release for this event
	Watch a video of Dean Snively's reading

The 2008 Colloquium on the American Founding was held at Amherst College April 11-12, 2008. Audio from selected events is available below. For more information, visit the Committee for the American Founding's Web site. 

	Paul McHugh, Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 'Sex and Surgery': Surgeries without Illness" (00:50:12)
	Noah Silverman, Republican Jewish Coalition, "A View of the Political Landscape from Capitol Hill" (00:50:13)
	Seth Lipsky, Editor, The New York Sun, "The Newspaper Wars in New York and the Battle of Ideas" (00:59:33)

The Rev. Dr. Leon T. Burrows speaks in Johnson Chapel on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008.

The Rev. Dr. Leon T. Burrows delivered the address during Amherst College’s celebration of the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Friday, Feb. 8. Burrows serves as the Protestant religious advisor to Amherst College and the advisor to the Hermenia T. Gardner Bi-Semester Christian Worship Series and the Amherst College Gospel Choir.

Hear an audio recording of Burrows' address