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The McKelvy House Scholars invite the campus to join a dinner discussion on capital punishment Sunday evening.
Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. at McKelvy House, 200 High Street; no reservations are required. Led by government and law major Erich Struble ’05 (Mountain Top, Pa.), the discussion will start at 6:30 p.m.
“Sunday’s discussion will not bite off more than it can chew,” says Struble. “Therefore, I have two goals and two goals only I hope to come to a consensus about whether we should abolish the death penalty here in America and whether, morally or otherwise, it should/should not be abolished everywhere.”
Discussion of the first topic will be more specific and solely focus on the death penalty in the United States. The second topic up for discussion centers around a hypothetical question. Struble asks participants to imagine the sovereign nation of the United States of McKelvy with the participants responsible for determining the laws. Would the country want the death penalty as a possible punishment? Why or why not? This topic will branch into a general discussion about the overall legitimacy of the death penalty.
“Think of Sunday’s discussion as a workshop instead of merely a conversation,” he says.
As preparation for the discussion, Struble offers the following websites for background information:
This is Struble’s second year as a McKelvy House Scholar.
“I enjoy the types of students who choose to participate in the program,” he says. “I very much like the idea of a student residence that places a premium on intellect and learning — a program that takes the formal learning that goes on in Lafayette’s classrooms and transforms it into an informal, comfortable experience.”
Since 1962, the McKelvy House Scholars program has brought together Lafayette students with a wide range of majors and interests to reside in a historic off-campus house and share in intellectual and social activities. Sunday dinner discussions that engage the students in debate and exchange of ideas are the hallmark of the program; several Wednesday discussions have been added this school year. Most members also contribute to the annual McKelvy Papers, written on a topic of each person’s choice. McKelvy Scholars participate in activities together such as field trips to plays, concerts, and exhibits, and sponsor events for the campus as well.
Previous discussions:
Oct. 3 — Revenge
Sept. 26 — Suicide
Sept. 22 – Sexual Lust
Sept. 15 — Envy
Sept. 12 – Themes from A Clockwork Orange
Sept. 8 – Materialism, satisfaction, and poverty
Sept. 5 — Obesity in America
2003-04:
April 25 — Anti-foundationalist critique of philosophy
April 18 – Dark humor
April 11 — Cults
April 4 — Link between ethical behavior and intelligence
March 28 — Five Images of Man
March 7 — Idealized body forms
Feb. 22 — Countercultures
Feb. 15 — Eternity
Feb. 8 — Bisexuality
Dec. 7 — Anger toward computers and technology
Nov. 9 — “Unnecessary” crimes
Nov. 2 — Genetic alteration
Oct. 26 — Social construction of gender
Oct. 19 — Greed as an economic force
Sept. 28 — Value