Filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore

"Good and evil" colloquium explores return to morality in public affairs

In his address at the West Point commencement in June 2002, President Bush declared America to be "in a conflict between good and evil," insisting that "America will call evil by its name." On April 25-26, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs will present a colloquium titled "A World of Good and Evil? The Return to Morality in Public and International Affairs."
     The event will explore the implications of a return to morality -- or at least the rhetoric of morality -- in public life by bringing together prominent scholars, policymakers and practitioners from around the globe. Lectures, panels and roundtable discussion will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in McCosh Hall, Robertson Hall and the Computer Science Building.
     Participants will address the ethical and policy considerations underlying key foreign and domestic policies, ranging from homeland security and the confrontation with Iraq to the Monterrey Declaration and global public health. In all these areas, speakers will ask the fundamental question: Is the dichotomy of good and evil the appropriate way to view the challenges facing the global community?
     Centers, programs and departments across the University will sponsor sessions. Historians will consider the antecedents of American unilateralism; philosophers will debate the moral and ethical dimensions of the good and evil dichotomy; economists and practitioners will analyze its effects on global welfare; and political scientists and diplomats will discuss its effects on the structure of the international system and America's place.
     Keynote speakers will include: Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat who has served in U.S. embassies from Tel Aviv to Athens and who made international headlines in late February after resigning in protest against Bush administration policies on Iraq; and Dennis Ross, the former special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and a point person in both the Bush and Clinton administrations responsible for exploring ways to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
     A schedule is available on the conference Web site at http://www.wws. princeton.edu/pcpia. Following the colloquium, which is free and open to the public, a report will be posted on the site to stimulate debate in both academic and policy circles.

Communiversity set for April 26

Town and borough residents, students, merchants, nonprofit organizations, musicians, performing and visual artists and food vendors will turn Nassau Street and the University campus into a colorful fairground from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26, for the annual Communiversity celebration.
     The event, sponsored by students at the University and the Arts Council of Princeton, is intended to bring the campus and community together on both sides of Nassau Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic.
     Traditional favorites, including performances on four stages, children's activities on Alexander Beach and more than 50 student booths in front of Nassau Hall, will join new additions such as sports games and demonstrations on Cannon Green.
     Before the main event gets under way, there will be a morning architectural tour of campus leaving from the Frist Campus Center. Call Pam Hersh at 258-3018 to register.
     The Princeton Environmental Network is sponsoring 5k and 10k races for the Princeton Save the Tiger Campaign. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. at Forbes College, and all of the proceeds from the $15 entrance fee go to the Save the Tiger Campaign. At Weaver Track, the athletics department will sponsor a Spring Sports Festival, where varsity athletes will give a multi-sport clinic from 10 a.m. to noon.
     Princeton borough and township mayors will speak at the opening ceremony at noon, along with President Tilghman. The University's International Center will continue its tradition of Communiversity participation with an elaborate flag procession beginning at 2:25 p.m. at the Nassau Street stage and ending on campus.
     For more information, contact student chair Lauren Nichols at 986-7540 or mailto:lnichols@princeton.edu.

Scholars and journalists to evaluate the presidency of George w. Bush

Leading scholars of the U.S. presidency and journalists will gather for a conference on "The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment" Friday and Saturday, April 25-26. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in 104 Computer Science Building.
     "The presidency of George W. Bush has been fascinating, controversial and unexpectedly eventful," said conference organizer Fred Greenstein, professor of politics emeritus and chair of the Program in Leadership Studies in the Woodrow Wilson School.
     Scholars from around the country will present papers at four of the sessions. The plan is for the papers to be published in a scholarly volume.
     A fifth session, scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, will feature a roundtable discussion of journalists who have covered the Bush presidency, including Dan Balz of The Washington Post, Carl Cannon of National Journal, Jeanne Cummings of The Wall Street Journal and Todd Purdum of The New York Times. Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, also will participate in the roundtable.
     For the conference program, panel times and participants' biographies, visit the conference Web site at http://www.wws.princeton.edu/bushconf.
     The conference is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Program in Leadership Studies, the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, the Center of International Studies and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Event examines influence of radio

The influence of radio on 20th- century literature and art will be explored in a conference Thursday and Friday, April 24-25, in McCosh Hall and the School of Architecture. Titled "Radio, Literature and the Sound of Modernity," the event will run from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday and from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday.
     The keynote speaker will be Friedrich Kittler, a Humboldt University (Berlin) professor and the author of two widely acclaimed books, "Discourse Networks" and "Gramophone, Film, Typewriter." Other speakers will come from Europe, Latin America and the United States.
     The conference also will feature a performance on radio called "Impossible Voices, Unmakeable Beings: The Poetics of the Radiophonic Body, in Pieces" by Gregory Whitehead, an experimental sound artist and co-editor of "The Wireless Imagination."
     The event, sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures, is free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://www.princeton.edu/~spo/archive/wireless_aesthetics.html, contact Elyse Kovalsky at mailto:kovalsky@princeton.edu or call the department at 258-7180.

German poet to be visiting fellow

Distinguished German poet Durs Grünbein will be on campus as a visiting fellow in the Council of the Humanities and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures April 22-May 1.
     Regarded as the most inventive lyric poet and essayist of the younger generation, Grünbein was the 1995 recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize, Germany's highest literary award.
     Grünbein will take part in the following events, which are free and open to the public:
     • a poetry reading of his most recent work (translated in English) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, in 106 McCormick.
     • a dialogue with the critic and novelist Aris Fioretos of Rutgers University at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in 105 Bobst.
     • a lecture on the practice of poetry at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Rockefeller-Mathey Theater.
     • a poetry reading of three selected works in German at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in 105 Bobst.

Senior thesis show

Photography by Joe Farrell (left) and sculpture by Rachel Linton (below) will be on display in the Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau St., from April 22-25. The exhibition is their senior thesis show in the Program in Visual Arts. An opening reception is set for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 22.

 
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