THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN KU life NOVEMBER 1, 1995 PAGE 10A
For 50 years, KU students have pondered the philosophical roots of American society
TOP: Horsemen of the Panathenaic Procession. ABOVE: Roman Emperor Nero, in reigning from 54 to 68 A.D. The frieze and bust are on display at the Wilcox Classical Museum in Lippincott Hall.
Story by Novelda Sommers
Photos by Andy Rullestad
In the early half of this century, the grounds of Western Civilization were shaken so hard that the rumblings were felt around Lawrence.
Two world wars and the worst economic depression this country had seen spurred KU faculty to inaugurate a reading program that would resume students to study the
writings that shaped American politics and beliefs. The program required students to read Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, Calvin, Locke, Hobbes — writers who formed the basis of America's government and society. Fifty years later,
they still are as the Western Civilization program celebrates its golden anniversary.
James Woolfe, professor of philosophy and director of the Western Civilization program, said the program would always be important.
"Students need to have some knowledge of where some of their ideas and institutions came from."he said.
Monica Ward, Lawrence senior, said that knowledge was what she appreciated most about the program.
"It's interesting," she said. "Everything we have today came from the past. I have a better understanding of how today came to be, and I can always use that."
Ward said the sheer volume of readings could be overwhelming at times.
"It seems like we just graze the surface," she said. "But it is a survey class."
More than 75,000 students have been through the program. It is required for students pursuing degrees in liberal arts and sciences, journalism and social welfare. Others have taken the program's two courses because they wanted to.
Early in the program's history, there were handbooks and reading lists, but no lectures. Students could meet with graduate students who led informal discussion groups. Discussion sections were added in the 1950s. From its inception to 1978, the program required students to pass a comprehensive examination to graduate.
William Getz, 1965 graduate and discussion leader for an honors section of Western Civilization, said the exam could make or break a student's graduation plans.
"If you messed up on the exam, you wouldn't graduate," he said. "A lot of people couldn't get out."
"The idea was that students should not graduate without some knowledge of the roots of their civilization," said Eldon Fields, professor emeritus of political science and director of the program in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Fields said during the years, he had seen changes in the program, but core readings stayed the same.
"A lot of the movements in the past 15 years were unknown when the program was founded." he said.
Woelfel said many of those movements were reflected in sometimes controversial changes in the reading list. For example, readings from the works of B.F. Skinner were added in 1982.
"That was a time when people were talking about Skinner," Woelfel said. "It was controversial because Skinner was a psychologist who wrote about behaviorism — the belief that changing a person's environment changes their behavior."
The Western Civilization program at the University of Kansas is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Here is a timeline of the events that have shaped KU's current program:
In the 1970s, the Western Civilization faculty added feminist and African-American readings.
Western Civilization's beginning
Paul Schumaker, professor of political science, said that the program had evolved to encompass many more ideas than intended by its founders. One of the original aims of the program was to study and enforce American political ideals. Those also have changed in the past half-century.
"After 1946, there was a sense that the American way was the best way," Schumaker said. "Now, there is skepticism over whether it is the best way. We can look at how the American way has failed to achieve its ideals."
He said Western Civilization courses now talk about anti-Semitism and the subjugation of women and African Americans. In the first few years of the program, such subjects might have been taboo.
The questions students must learn to ask themselves have not changed.
"Morality, ethics, how we should live, the importance of religion — students should have an awareness of these issues," Schumaker said. "This is the core of an educated person."
Schumaker said he did not expect the program to stop changing. He said he expected future reading lists to include more feminist and environmentalist readings.
"This is not it," he said. "This is not the end. Things tend to change rather dramatically."
Cultural Calendar
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition—KU Design Faculty Exhibition, through Friday at the Art and Design Gallery.
Exhibition—MFA Thesis Show, featuring the work of David Criner, Louise Harriet Borgen and Diane V. James, Sunday through Nov. 17 at the Art and Design Gallery.
Exhibition—Edward Henderson, Saturday through Jan. 24 at University of Missouri-Kansas City Gallery of Art, 50th and Holmes streets, Kansas City, Mo.
Exhibition—And Angels, Second Thoughts, Fables, featuring the work of William T. Wiley and Michael Hannon, Friday through Dec. 22 at 412 Delaware, Kansas City, Mo.
Lecture- American Art and Culture c. 1900, by John Wilmerding, 6:30 p.m. today at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.
Lecture—Money for College: Scholarship Searching Skills for Women, by the Emuly Taylor Women's Resource Center, 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Malott Room in the Kansas Union.
AREA PERFORMANCES
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AREA
Department of Music and Dance presents a Fall Concert featuring Collegium Musicum and Oread Consort, 7:30 tonight at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vermont St. Free.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Fall Concert, featuring Tuba Euphonium Consort, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Swarthout Rectal Hall. Free.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Solo Artist Series, featuring Michael Haber and Rita Sloan, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Swarthout Recital Hall. Tickets are $8 and $10.
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Department of Music and Dance presents a Faculty Recital, featuring Kansas Woodwinds, 7:30 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall. Free.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Fall Concert, featuring KU Jazz Combos at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Swarthout Recital Hall. Free.
*Topeka Performing Arts Center presents Halley's Comet, featuring John Amos, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the center, 214 Southeast Eighth St., Topeka*
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