Many people, particularly Westerners, travel to the developing world each year to volunteer with NGOs and assist communities in need. However, critics of “voluntourism” warn that the self-satisfaction, thrill, and social media attention gained through service may come at the cost of real progress and make a spectacle of poverty. Others defend the good intentions…
Tag Archive for allbritton center for the study of public life
Free ‘Selma’ Screening and Discussion
Update: An additional screening will be held tomorrow (Wednesday, February 11) at 7:45 PM. Pick up a ticket from Sara Wadlow in Allbritton 116 by 5pm today. The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, with the support of the Center for Community Partnerships, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, and the Office of…
Can American Government Be Fixed? A Discussion with Philip K. Howard
Philip K. Howard is a lawyer, civic leader, and writer whose work addresses the effects of an overly complex legal code on our governing system and daily lives. In The Rule of Nobody, he argues that the American government is paralyzed by detailed, outmoded laws, and advocates for a radically simplified system where officials and citizens are free to be practical — to ask,…
Allbritton Talks: Unpaid Internships
Are unpaid internships exploitative, or is free labor a fair trade for a learning experience? Why do businesses and organizations hire unpaid interns, and should students accept these positions? Who wins and loses in a society where unpaid internships are permitted? We will consider these questions and more over pizza on Friday, January 30 at…
Ebola: Understanding the Public Health Response (10/23)
Wesleyan World Wednesdays, the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, and Academic Affairs present a panel discussion with Wesleyan alum and CT State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Cartter, Prof. Anna Geltzer and Prof. David Constantine, on the public health response to Ebola.
Commemorate Freedom Summer 1964
In the summer of 1964, over 1,000 volunteers from across the United States – many of them college students – traveled to the Deep South as a part of Freedom Summer, or the Mississippi Summer Project, to assist local civil rights workers in getting black Mississippians to the voting polls. Despite intimidation and violence from the…