Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Copenhagen Discussion, part 1

The discussion of the play Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn, at Parents Weekend at Colorado College this past weekend was interesting. (See also the four posts in September, before Parents Weekend, about this play. First post here.)

This was a "Freedom and Authority" discussion. Freedom and Authority was an interdisciplinary class introduced at Colorado College in 1951, during the McCarthy era.
The course revolves around the quintessentially liberal arts questions, “What do I think and believe? And why?” “What is the balance between individual freedom and religious, social and political authority?” (source)

Originally a senior level course, it is now part of the First Year Experience program at CC.

Since 1959, Homecoming Weekend at CC has included a Freedom and Authority discussion for alumni. Parents Weekend and Homecoming Weekend are now the same weekend at CC, which is how I came to be involved.

I would guess that 150 people attended the discussion of Copenhagen. After some introductory remarks, we were split up into groups of 20 or so. We were supposed to discuss for 45 minutes in our small groups and then return to the larger group. My group talked for so long that we missed the larger group discussion at the end. I did not make any comments. There were plenty of other people who wanted to talk more than I did.

William Davis, professor of comparative literature and German, gave the introductory remarks. History professor David Torres-Rouff led the discussion in the small group I was in.

Slightly more than half of the overall group was alumni, and most of the rest were parents. In my discussion group, there was one freshman student. Prof. Torres-Rouff was the third youngest person in my discussion group (after the freshman and a 5-year alum); he was in his late 30s. There were lots of alumni from the 1960s.

One more thought on Freedom and Authority: the topic is similar to the Vermont state motto—Freedom and Unity. What is the proper balance between individual freedom and group unity?

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