Northwestern University Student Symposium

Biography

Symposium was a Northwestern student-organized program that, from 1962 to 1971, arranged a series of multi-day conferences on a variety of thought-provoking topics. Founded in 1961 by a group of students concerned about their role in the world, Symposium’s goal was to stimulate serious discussion among the Northwestern student body by inviting prominent intellectuals and leaders of major segments of American society to discuss their views on a given topic. The program, initially proposed by Joan Fox, program chair of Northwestern’s Associated Women Students, and presented before the Northwestern Student Senate, was modeled after similar programs undertaken at other American universities including Yale, Wisconsin, Brown, and North Carolina. Speakers appearing at Symposium were chosen with consideration given to their expertise on the yearly topic of discussion as well as the levels of their level of their achievements or even notoriety. Symposium received early faculty sponsorship from George Levine (English Department) and Richard Snyder (Political Science Department).

The first Symposium was held from February 10th-12th, 1962 and consisted of a series of debates, discussions, seminars and lectures given by approximately 14 speakers. Starting in 1964, the format of the Symposium changed and expanded to include not only speeches and lectures, but also films, plays and art exhibits pertinent to the year’s topic of discussion. The content of Symposium also shifted over time, from more general topics such as “Commitment in An Age of Anxiety” (1962) to much more specific and timely topics such as “Violence” (1968). This shift to more contemporary, even urgent topics of discussion elicited a strong response from the student and alumni community, not all of which was positive. By the early 1970s, a proposal to integrate into Northwestern’s formal curriculum Symposium’s format of lectures, films, and other activities received some consideration. Budgetary constraints along with bureaucratic and logistical difficulties diminished enthusiasm for the series. The committee governing Symposium disbanded late in 1973 noting that the program as originally proposed was no longer justified due to lack of student interest, the absence of a strong and nurturing sense of community, and a shortage of resources needed to facilitate related programs and curricular offerings.

For the short period of its history, Symposium brought to campus some lively and important programs along with a noteworthy collection of impressive public figures including: H. Stuart Hughes, Saul Bellow, Richard Feynman, Alexander Tcherepnin, Rollo May, Hannah Arendt, Norman Thomas, Frank Cassell, Allen Wallis, James B. Carey, Arthur Larson, Harold Taylor, James Landis, Gordon Craig, Arnold J. Toynbee, William Barrett, Waldo Beach, S.I. Hayakawa, Theodore Roethke, Jerome Bruner, Vera Micheles Dean, George Gamow, Oscar Handlin, Alfred Kazin, Kenneth Boulding, Carleton Coon, Carl T. Rowan, David Boroff, Paul Goodman, Douglas M. Knight, Ralph Ellison, Dwight MacDonald, Harold Clurman, Jules Henry, B.F. Skinner, Arturo Fallico, Robert Moses, James Silver, Melvin Tumin, Leslie Fiedler, Gael Greene, Sterling Hayden, Thomas Altizer, Harvey Cox, Walter Kaufmann, Yale Brozen, Donald Michael, Robert Theobold, John Ford, Scott Greer, George Cohen, Richard Ellmann, Erich Heller, Hilton Kramer, Richard Alpert, Daniel Boorstin, Ronald Tavel, Ernest Van Den Haag, Herbert Marcuse, Kenneth Boulding, Karl Deutsch, Charles Hamilton, Stanley Milgram, Eduardo Mondlane, Ernest Chambers, Staughton Lynd, Vincent Harding, James Lawson, Bosley Crowther, Dick Gregory, Jerry Rubin, Michael Harrington, Anthony Downs, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Thomas Ayers, James Herndon, Tom Hayden, Richard Goodwin, Seymour M. Miller, Mike James, Gerald Feinberg, Gustavo Sosa, Victor Solomon, Allen Feigenberg, Dovie Thurman, Milton Rosenberg, Jean Houston, B. Claude Mathis, John Holt, Harold Taylor, Terry Calancy, Robert Dellinger, Bill Baldwin, Henry Loomis, Jack Jacobson, Leon Papernow, Alice Westbrook, Warren Boorom, and Robert Stenson.

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