Jeanne and I spent a couple of lovely days last week with friends in Port Hope, Ontario before they drove us to Toronto where Jeanne had a Saturday work event. Port Hope is on the north shore of Lake Ontario about sixty miles east of the big city. During our visit our friend Tom took us to what he called the “fish ladder” where we, along with dozens of fellow visitors, watched salmon striving to leap a small human-made waterfall... Read more
Early in my career at the college, during a public forum on my campus intended to focus on steps we might take toward addressing the fact that we had a blindingly white student body, faculty, and administration, one of my senior faculty colleagues raised his hand and asked the question that a number of people in the room were probably wondering, but didn’t have the guts to ask: Why do we want to have a diverse campus? Despite its serious... Read more
As I prepared to be a panelist at the “With Mutual Respect” event, I unexpectedly had an exchange on Facebook that modelled the sort of dialogue we hoped to have on display in late September. A Facebook friend, whom I’ve not met in person but with whom I have exchanged a number of pleasantries (some rooted in our love of the Red Sox, others in our shared New England heritage, even others in our perceived agreement on many political/social issues)... Read more
Except for those who deliberately and religiously stay disconnected from current events and those who live under a rock, everyone in this country knows that the United States Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision with its June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, thus overruling fifty years of precedent and abolishing the right to an abortion as federally guaranteed, turning things back to the states to do what they will. Five of the six justices... Read more
Exactly one year ago, an important event in which I was both involved with planning and execution, occurred on our campus. It was controversial and cutting-edge. After attending the event, a colleague who has been on the faculty for twenty-five years told me that she had never been prouder of our college. Over the next three Sundays I will be looking back at the context, planning, and reality of that event, which the President of the college intends to be... Read more
Marilynne Robinson writes that “I remember once, as a child, walking into a library, looking around at the books, and thinking, I could do that.” My “I could do that” moment happened when I was in my early thirties. “Hey, Doc!” Ben said as he poked his head through my office door. “I’m not a doctor yet—I’m just a graduate student,” I replied. “Okay . . . but you’re teaching my class and I’m very confused.” I was very aware... Read more
I learned many things from my good friend Marsue, who was the rector of the Episcopal church that I attend. She was a great storyteller; in the midst of one of her entertaining and inspiring sermons she brought us into the world of the Quakers. Apparently when a couple is thinking of marriage, or a person believes she or he is called to ministry, they come before a committee of fellow-Quakers charged with the task of helping the persons in... Read more
Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing twenty-two years ago today when they heard the news. I was in my college’s main cafeteria getting coffee and noticed something weird happening on the Today Show broadcast on a television hanging from the ceiling in the corner. At that point all they knew was that one of the Twin Towers was on fire, apparently because an airplane had crashed into it. I had scheduled office hours that... Read more
What happens when a perfectly good virtue gets turned into not only the most important virtue, but in many cases the only virtue? I came face to face with this question in the early weeks of a recent emester with twenty-five juniors and seniors in a section of General Ethics. We find ourselves in a world of competing religious, moral, and political claims shouting at each other across various divides, claims that are both incompatible with each other and resistant to... Read more
Is it ever right to hold a grudge? Is resentment or unforgiveness ever justified? These questions were front and center in a seminar with a bunch of freshmen not long ago; their answers revealed one of the most important and ubiquitous moral divides of all—the divide between what we think we should believe and what we actually believe. And behind the discussion loomed an even larger moral issue: Where does a person’s moral compass come from, and is there any way... Read more
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