Lanthorn.com

C-SPAN to air GVSU program

By Paul LeBlanc GVL Staff Writer
4/11/2009

Grand Rapids will welcome a wide number of respected classical scholars from across the country this week for an event hosted by Grand Valley State University's Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies.

The program, "President Barack Obama & the Lessons of Antiquity," will consist of two panel discussions on the struggles the newly-elected president will face in relation to historical lessons from ancient writers.

The event will be covered on national television by C-SPAN.

It will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday with a keynote address by University of Oklahoma professor Dr. J. Rufus Fears at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Friday at the DeVos Center on GVSU's Pew Campus, two more keynote addresses and two panel discussions will occur throughout the day.

Among those contributing to the discussions will be Hauenstein Center Director Gleaves Whitney, who will also moderate the second discussion on the Founding Fathers and the lessons of antiquity.

"(The event) seeks to explore the first 100 days of President Obama's administration in light of the long-term lessons of history," Whitney said.

Whitney noted the importance of examining ancient writers in light of the similarity between the challenges political leaders faced in antiquity to the issues currently confronting policymakers.

He added these include issues related to international cooperation, energy crises, economic turmoil and foreign threats.

"The ancient writers bequeathed to us many important works about how the leaders they observed dealt with these crises, and we could do well to learn from them," Whitney said. "One of the lessons of history is that we don't learn from history."

Additionally, GVSU classics professors Kelli Rudolph and Charles Pazdernik will contribute to the first panel discussion on ancient Greece and Rome.

Pazdernik specializes in issues related to the period of late antiquity, which includes the time span between the third and seventh centuries A.D.

Rudolph specializes in ancient philosophy and science.

Pazdernik said he believes lessons from late antiquity are quite relevant to the current political climate.

"(Late antiquity involved) a transition from what we think of as the ancient world to the Medieval and the Byzantine and the Islamic world," Pazdernik said. "Obviously, (late antiquity) is a period of very great change and I think there's room for some examination. Obama certainly ran on a platform of change and emphasized change in various ways."

Whitney said he would like audiences to learn from the lessons of history and apply such knowledge to their experiences now.

"I hope that audiences will be able to glean important lessons of history to apply to the current presidency," Whitney said. "They will be better citizens; they'll be more watchful. They'll know a good thing when they see it, and they'll know a threat when they see it."

With the event having a national profile, Whitney added he hoped it would contribute to raising GVSU's academic profile across the country.

"With all of (the Hauenstein Center's) events, we hope to raise the value of a Grand Valley degree by bringing in scholars of national renown and broadcasting what we do to a national audience," Whitney said. "It just makes a Grand Valley degree all the more valuable."

pleblanc@lanthorn.com

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