Learning Outside the Classroom
I apologize for not posting for such a long time. The last few weeks have been pretty crazy around campus between activities and getting ready for mid-terms.
As a member of the Freshman Class Council, I and the other members have the opportunity to use our budget to put on activities and different kinds of programs for the freshman class and for campus. We were recently approached to financially support two speakers who would be coming to campus to speak to students. Having speakers to campus is not that unusual so I was not very surprised. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, until we continued to learn about the speakers. The two women direct adult films and each have different opinions as to what constitutes as the line between art and simply pornography, or if there is, in fact, a line.
I feel like I should have prefaced that I come from a fairly conservative background and community. I would not consider myself to be narrow minded however I cannot say that I have ever had to contemplate bringing in adult filmmakers as educational speakers. Thus, this was a difficult project for me to separate what I thought personally and what would be an effective program for the campus. While I still may not know how I feel about the topic of the program, I realize that I was given a great opportunity to expand beyond my own mode of thinking. This is one of the qualities that I have come most to appreciate about Willamette. I would be so bored if I were surrounded by people who thought and acted just the way I did. I may not always agree with the things that my peers say or do, but I am continually forced to shape my own opinions and articulate them to my peers. It is always an intellectual adventure here at Willamette, the programs and the speakers are simply a few of the ways that the University works to encourage learning beyond the classroom.