Visiting professor seeks answer
By Anastasia Brown · Community Editor
It was a sufficiently intriguing title to draw over 50 attendees to Rathburn Monday night to hear a visiting professor discuss this classic topic.
The student-run reading group The Fugitives brought Luke Foster, assistant professor of government at Hillsdale College’s Washington campus, to Grove City College.
John Hatzis, current president of The Fugitives, was instrumental in coordinating the event and was pleased his work paid off. The number of attendees was a pleasant surprise and “the lecture received rave reviews from men and women alike,” Hatzis said.
One of those reviews came from sophomore Theodora Brown.
“I liked that he was challenging the Romantic concept of unreserved authenticity,” Brown said. “Like, you don’t need to tell everyone exactly what you’re thinking, and you can be polite without it making you ingenuine.”
Sophomore Sylvia Adams also found the lecture illuminating.
“I felt encouraged by the genuine desire of the people present to pursue a life greater than themselves.” Adams said. “I was also impressed by the evident desire to live rightfully, even when it is hard and requires self-sacrifice.”
“Both the guys and the girls present wanted to understand how to better honor and respect each other. It certainly reminded me that the online gender war is not as all pervasive as the media would try to claim it to be!”
Hatzis was pleased by the interdisciplinary spread of attendees.
“What surprised me is that we drew quite a few computer science, engineering (and) other science majors to the event, who also spoke very highly of how winsome Dr. Foster was at explaining the different philosophical, religious and literary contributions to the ‘spirit of the gentleman’ across the western tradition,” Hatzis said.
“So well-received was the lecture that it sparked considerable group discussion: the program did not formally wrap up until 8:30 thanks to group discussion and Q&A, and virtually the entire audience remained for the whole program,” Hatzis said. “After the formal program concluded, the next hour was spent in fellowship with the attendees.”
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute sponsored the event. The institute is a national organization that trains “the next generation of leaders and teaches them principles of ordered liberty and virtuous leadership” through campus clubs, publications and events.
