McKelvy House Scholars Will Host Dinner Discussion on Right to Life

The McKelvy House Scholars invite the campus to join a dinner discussion about the “right to life” Sunday evening.

Dinner begins at 6 p.m. at McKelvy House, 200 High Street; no reservations are required. Trustee Scholar Joshua Garber ’06 (Staten Island, N.Y.), a biology major, will lead the discussion at 6:30 p.m.

“During this week’s discussion, we will be examining the recent right-to-life controversy involving the late Terri Schiavo,” says Garber. “While I do not intend to focus on any one facet of the controversy, I would like to direct your attention to a few issues that I believe lay at the heart of the case.”

He poses the following questions to consider:

• How do you feel about Congress’ enactment of legislation compelling the federal judiciary to hear Terri Schiavo’s case, even after a U.S. District Court in Florida had ruled that the matter lay outside federal jurisdiction? In particular, consider how Congress’ actions might have breached the division-of-powers doctrine.
• “Standing” is defined as the legal right to initiate a lawsuit. To do so, a person must be sufficiently affected by the matter at hand and a controversy that can be resolved by legal action. Should Michael Shiavo have had “standing” to petition the courts to remove his wife’s feeding tube?
• Do you believe that it was immoral/unethical for the medical community to willfully end Terri Schiavo’s life? Was the decision to do so consistent with the oath that all physicians must take to first do no harm? How does the likelihood that Terri Schiavo was in a “persistent vegetative state” affect your response?

“My motivation for joining McKelvy grew largely out of a desire to find and partake in intellectual discussion with other Lafayette students,” notes Garber.

He is a writing associate and was a member of a Technology Clinic class that focused on ways that Lafayette can encourage students to remain engaged with the College after they graduate. Advised by Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology and director of the Technology Clinic program, and Larry Malinconico, associate professor of geology and environmental geosciences, the students presented recommendations to clients Jim Dicker ’85, vice president for development and college relations, and John Leone, then director of alumni affairs, last December.

The class developed Alumni News for Undergraduates, a biannual, four-page publication that made its debut in the January 2005 Alumni News and was distributed separately to all students. It highlighted the accomplishments of undergraduates and young alumni and the ways that students can make and benefit from connections with alumni.

Technology Clinic is a hands-on course founded in 1986 that brings together students from different majors to solve the real-world problems of a business, non-profit organization, or government body. Their research addresses the social, technological, and economic issues involved with the client’s problem.

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.

In addition, three McKelvy Scholars host a weekly radio program, Two Blocks Past Wawa, on campus radio station WJRH (104.9 FM), that features discussion and debate with guests and listeners who call in.

Previous discussions:
April 10 – Second Amendment
April 3 – Torture
March 23 – Drug War, Poverty, and Drug Trade
March 6 – Nationalism and Patriotism
Feb. 27 – Human emotion
Feb. 13 – Rationale Behind Military Duty
Feb. 9 – Ghosts
Feb. 2 – Death
Dec. 4 – Mind and brain
Nov. 21 – State of music industry
Nov. 14 – Consistent moral arguments
Nov. 7 – Privilege
Oct. 24 – Modern religion
Oct. 17 – Capital punishment
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