4-Part Series to Study the Tyranny of Communism

In collaboration with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Ashbrook Center, the Ashland University College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference will host a 4-part series designed to inform and create awareness about the tyranny of communism including:

• A viewing and panel discussion of The Lives of Others, an Oscar Winning Film about a member of the East German Secret Police who conducts surveillance on a writer and an actress
• A lecture on Czech dissidents under the Soviet Union’s Satellite State of Czechoslovakia by Dr. Flagg Taylor, an expert on Totalitarianism
• Talks by two victims of communism:
• Grace Jo who escaped the horrors of North Korea
• Enrique Altimari, an advocate for the Venezuelan Republic and a vocal critic of the Socialist Party’s rule under Chávez and Maduro

All four programs are free and open to the public.

The series begins on Wednesday, Mar. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Myers Convocation Center with a film screening and panel discussion of The Lives of Others. The movie follows a member of the East German Secret Police (Stasi) who is conducting surveillance on a writer and an actress, and finding himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. It is a beautiful, tragic story about life under tyrannical government. The film will be followed by an audience discussion of the film with Maura Grady, Department of English; Rene Paddags and Greg McBrayer, Department of History & Political Science.

On Thursday, Mar. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Room of the Myers Convocation Center, Grace Jo, a defector of the brutal Kim regime in North Korea, will share her personal story of survival with the campus and wider Ashland community. Grace was born in North Korea and lost most of her family to tyranny and starvation before escaping to China, later resettling in the United States. “My life completely changed after I came to America,” she said. “I think that’s called freedom. It’s a very cherished thing for my family and for me.” Grace became a U.S. citizen in 2013. 

On Monday, Mar. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Myers Convocation Center, Enrique Altimari, a dissident and critic of his native Venezuela, will explore the downfall of the Venezuelan democracy and will describe the coordinates of the regime’s ideology. He will focus on lessons learned from the process and warn against the use of reductive ideologies and populist-messianic politics.

The series will conclude on Thursday, Mar. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium with a lecture by Dr. Flagg Taylor about Václav Havel, one of the leaders of the Charter 77 movement in Communist Czechoslovakia. Havel was an astute analyst of how an ideological tyranny sought to dissuade its inhabitants from being truth seekers in their everyday lives. Taylor will consider Havel’s arguments, discuss how he sought to encourage truth seeking through his essays and plays, and consider what lessons Havel’s writings might have for us today.

PR Students Partner with Veteran's Affairs

Public Relations students are working with the Ashland University Veteran's Affairs office this semester on the creation and implementation of a campaign to build connections with fellow veterans and AU students. These opportunities to get involved in real-life projects help develop students into successful public relations professionals.

West Comments on Oxford's Classics Program Change

Oxford's Classics program recently proposed removing the study of Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid, according to The Oxford Student. Dr. David West, Assistant Professor of History here at AU, weighs in on this controversial decision:

Oxford's Classics program is apparently planning not to make the study of Homer and Vergil compulsory anymore to... Classics majors. This means that the History and Political Science majors in my course this spring on Homer's Iliad and Vergil's Aeneid are getting a better education in the Classics than students of Latin and Greek at Oxford will going forward. Another victory for Ashbrook and Ashland University! Although students don't read these epics in the Greek or Latin original in this course, they do, nevertheless, read the epics, and engage with foundational ideas about honor, courage, heroism, warfare, political power, the nature and role of divine power in human life, the human passions, and the place of human beings in the cosmos. Homer and Vergil's poetic exploration of these themes has continuously elicited responses from the greatest minds of the Western tradition, from Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero to Dante, Milton, and Nietzsche.

Read more at  historyandpolitics-au.blogspot.com

Randall-Griffiths Performs at Tulsa Suffrage Celebrations

Communication Studies Professor and Director of the Online Communication Studies Program Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths was recently featured on Good Morning Tulsa for her portrayal as suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt during the city's Women's Suffrage Commemoration events.

Events of the day, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th

Dr. Randall-Griffiths as Carrie Chapman Catt
Sharon King Davis as Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Rebecca Marks Jimerson as Ida B. Wells

Amendment, included Living History performances, during which Dr. Randall-Griffiths gave a keynote portrayal of Chapman Catt, a march and rally, and opening of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum's "Votes for Women: Striking a Four-Letter Word from the Constitution" exhibit.  Additional Living History performances were given by suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, and Susan B. Anthony.

Fleming Wins Prestigious PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award

Dr. Fleming, Professor of English at Ashland University, was awarded the highly prestigious PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel award for the "Art of the Essay" category in New York City. Her book Resurrection of the Wild: Meditations on Ohio's Natural Landscape was chosen from an impressive list of finalists.

Previous winners of this award include such literary giants as: Ursula K. Le Guin, James Wolcott, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Marilynne Robinson.

Read more about the award here: pen.org/literary-award/

Juried Student Art + Design Exhibition Opens March 5

The Ashland University Juried Student Art + Design Exhibition opens on Thursday, March 5, in the Coburn Gallery with a reception from 4:30-6:30 p.m. This exhibition will offer $950 in awards to student artists, including Best in Show, Honorable Mentions, Bernini Award, Dean’s Award, Alumni “Wink” Award, AU Permanent Collection Award and the People’s Choice Award. The awards ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. Read more at ashlanduniversityart.blogspot.com

Celebrating the 19th Amendment with Catt

In observance and celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing and protecting women's right to vote, the Ashland University College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference will present Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths' living history performance of suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt on Monday, Mar. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Carrie Chapman Catt was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1920 when the 19th amendment became part of the United States Constitution. This performance will highlight the early efforts occurring long before Catt became involved in women’s rights, along with her own part of the woman suffrage story.

Presented in a Chautauqua format, the performance by Dr. Randall Griffiths, Professor of Communication Studies, will begin with a pre-show slide presentation on the suffrage movement with music to orient the audience to the theme and context while serving as a lead into the performance which includes three parts:

1. An in character monologue
2. An in character Q&A session with the audience
3. An out of character Q&A to cover broader topics, including controversial aspects of suffrage work, and things that occurred after Catt’s death