On Friday afternoon in Baker Center, OU President Dr. Roderick McDavis gave a welcoming address to the first in the Modern Languages department's series of colloquia on race and critical consciousness.
The themes of the colloquia are especially timely, given the growing tensions related to nationalism, globalization, economic domination and religious fundamentalism that have come to characterize the early years of the 21st century.
In his introductory comments, McDavis praised the faculty who had conceived and designed the program and applauded the members of the audience, who had taken time from their busy schedules to attend the colloquium.
As soon as he had finished touting the value and importance of frank discussion on such topics as race and culture and how they shape the modern global discourse, McDavis passed the microphone to the nearest available hand and vanished from the room like President Bush from a grammar rodeo.
I realize that as president of the university, McDavis has many commitments and obligations, but had he deigned to remain to listen to the speakers, he would have heard one of them, Arthur Hughes, discuss the dubious role of rhetoric in academia and caution that no matter how well-spoken, words alone inevitably fail to effect positive change.
Vision, indeed.' Tod Imperato is a Latin American Studies graduate student.
17 Archives
Letter to the Editor
