Session 1 Lineup for URCA 2020

Along with opening remarks from CAS Dean Dawn Weber, the 2020 URCA Symposium opens at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Apr. 15 with a diverse lineup including presentations about music history, poetry, website design and adolescent psychology. Every session through 3:15 p.m. promises to be as intriguing and inspiring. The first session includes the following presentations:

• Emily Ebert's Entartete Musik: Jazz and Survival in Nazi Germany 
• Paul Dyczkowski's Speak to the Rushing Water: I Am – Reflections in Poems 
• Branden Barber, Brennen Nalley, Jacob Garry, Kyle Ackert and Renee Lucas' Interactive Chaos Automata Website 
• Dr. David Werner's The (Not So) Good, Bad, and Ugly: Adolescent Alcohol Exposure

History/Political Science Major Kicks off URCA Presentations

History/Political Science major Joey Barretta will kick-off the 2017 URCA Symposium on April 11 at 9 a.m. with his presentation titled: "Was Martin Luther King Jr. the Frederick Douglass of the Twentieth-Century?" Sponsored by faculty member Dr. Emily Hess, Barretta will compare and contrast the two most prominent African American thinkers in the history of the United States. Below is a portion of his presentation abstract.

...Both sought to elevate the condition of their race in a society in which prejudice was entrenched. In my presentation, I will compare the methods each used to bring about equality for their race. The majority of Douglass’ public life was focused on bringing about equality by ensuring the principles proclaimed by the American Founders would be fully realized. Douglass’ approach hinged upon great men leading this nation to elevate the American people before, during, and immediately following the abolition of slavery and throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction. Dr. King’s method was not so much a hearkening to the American Founding, but rather a mission to make the love of Christ manifest on Earth and in so doing equality would come. King stressed that appealing to reason alone would prove insufficient due to man’s sinful nature, so his movement would focus on nonviolence and appeal to the heart rather than the mind alone. I assert that while the methods of Douglass and King seem radically different, many of the outcomes of what they sought to achieve were similar, but must also be examined in their historical context.

Ivan Larson Compares Justice Scalia to the Founders

Political Science/History major Ivan Larson (sponsored by Dr. Christopher Burkett, Associate Professor of Political Science) will compare Justice Scalia’s judicial theory to that of James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” at the 2 p.m. URCA session in the Faculty Room of the Convocation Center. In his abstract, Ivan states, "While the Founders did not all agree on how to interpret the Constitution, Scalia at least shares similar views on the matter with Madison."

Featured Abstract: "Boycotts for Liberty: How the Non-Importation Movement Shifted Women's Place in Colonial Society"

Today's featured abstract is an oldie-but-goodie.  Hallie Wolff delivered this excellent oral presentation during our very first Symposium in 2010.

Boycotts for Liberty: How the Non-Importation Movement Shifted Women’s Place in Colonial Society

Hallie Wolff

Faculty Sponsor: John Moser, History & Political Science

In the years leading up to the outbreak of the American Revolution, many colonial leaders called for the boycott of British goods in an effort to force British Parliament to repeal colonial taxes. The success of the non-importation movement was contingent on the cooperation of colonial women. Studies have been conducted on the years leading up to the American Revolution and on women in colonial society, but little has been done on women’s participation in the colonial boycotts. Works by prominent historians such as T.H. Breen and Carol Berkin were studied as well as primary sources from the era to analyze the changes the non-importation movement brought to colonial women. Women were key participants in the non-importation movement. Their participation brought them something they never had access to before: a voice in politics. Through refusal to purchase certain goods, colonial women were able to voice political opinions without stepping outside their duties as a wife, mother, and daughter. The small political freedoms women gained through this era did not lead to any major changes in the political rights of women, though. At the conclusion of the American Revolution and non-importation movement, women’s lives resumed as they were before, showing that the political role women undertook during the various boycotts was not continued afterwards.