Chicago Society forums encourage interaction

Members of Chicago Society (left to right) Jamie Stevens, President, Ian Desai, Chief Executive, and Alonso Bustamante, Vice President, are bringing together students and faculty in a forum setting to engage in discussions. There goal is to cover a diverse range of topics that reach across all of the disciplines at the University.

Earlier this year, more than 500 students crammed into Hutchinson Commons to hear three highly respected scholars–John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science; Rashid Khalidi, Professor in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations; and Charles Lipson, Associate Professor in Political Science–debate the possibility of war in Iraq.

The teach-in, organized by the Chicago Undergraduate Political Science Association, was co-sponsored by Chicago Society, a new and active student organization. According to its mission statement, Chicago Society “seeks to promote interaction and exchange between our University’s students and the most intelligent, vital and influential figures in the American academic and political worlds.”

The group’s motto, adapted from the first line of Plato’s Phaedrus, “My friend, where have you been, and where are you going?” demonstrates not only the members’ inquisitiveness but also their desire to connect with others to solve problems.

“Our goal is both to give students access to the most dynamic thinkers in the academy as well as to provide a basis for improving student-faculty relationships at the University,” said third-year Ian Desai, the group’s executive director.

“By bringing such people together, we hope to achieve a more comprehensive and meaningful understanding of the problems facing the globe as well as closer knowledge of each other.”

Tonight at 8 p.m. in Hutchinson Commons, Chicago Society will sponsor a panel discussion on economics, politics, terrorism and corruption in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world. Speakers include Indonesian presidential candidate Sjahrir, Professor Jeffrey Winters of Northwestern University and Professor Dwight King of Northern Illinois University.

The Chicago Society members are anticipating a turnout of 300 people.

Chicago Society, which became a recognized student organization in May, was founded last spring by Desai and third-year Jamie Stevens, the group’s president. Directed by a board of 10 undergraduate students, Chicago Society also has several faculty advisers, including Allen Sanderson, Senior Lecturer in Economics and the College, and Douglas MacAyeal, Professor in Geophysical Sciences and the College.