CFP: HxLibraries Symposium: Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage
Submit your lightning talk proposal to join confirmed speakers Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, Samantha Harris, Esq., Dr. Tabia Lee, and Dr. Beatriz Villarroel via Zoom on May 23, 2024.
Heterodox Libraries (HxLibraries) seeks proposals for lightning talks / papers for our FREE virtual spring 2024 symposium, Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage, on May 23, 2024 10am - 4pm CT:
https://tinyurl.com/HxLibraries-Spr24-CFP
Submissions should demonstrate how the proposed lightning talk / paper will address the symposium theme of curiosity, controversy, and intellectual courage. Presenters may share research (or research-in-progress), pedagogy and teaching examples, or other practical applications related to the theme. Topics of interest include:
Curiosity, intellectual courage, or other intellectual virtues
Civil dialogue and constructive disagreement
Open inquiry and viewpoint diversity
Campus climate for freedom of expression
'Cancellation' and cancel culture resilience
A full description of the symposium is enclosed.
Proposal abstracts of up to 250 words* are due Friday, January 19th, 2024. Proposals will be refereed. Notifications will be sent in February 2024.
Lightning talks will be delivered via Zoom. Completed lightning talks / papers should not exceed 1200 words or 10 spoken minutes.
Submit your lightning talk proposal here!: https://tinyurl.com/HxLibraries-Spr24-CFPÂ
For more information, please contact Sarah Hartman-Caverly: smh767@psu.eduÂ
Copyright / recording / open license note: If accepted, presenters will be asked to sign releases to record their talks and to include written or transcribed versions in the open-licensed symposium proceedings.
HxLibraries Spring 2024 Symposium
Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage
"The truth defends itself"; for all others, there's intellectual courage. Explore scholarship, teaching practices, and resources to enhance open inquiry and face controversy with intellectual courage in the virtual HxLibraries Spring 2024 Symposium, Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage on May 23, 2024. Hear from thought leaders including keynote speaker Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, Samantha Harris, Esq., and Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, learn from your colleagues' lightning talks, and participate in a facilitated book discussion of Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy.
Studying, teaching, or otherwise expressing controversial views poses the risk of censorship, censure, or ostracism; in a word, cancellation. Faculty and students fear campus cancel culture, which then-undergraduate student Emma Camp characterized as "strict ideological conformity." Fifty-nine percent of students report self-censoring in class; of those, sixty-two percent do so out of fear of negative reactions or retribution from classmates outside of class, according to Heterodox Academy's 2022 Campus Expression Survey. The Knight Foundation reports that sixty-five percent of students agree that the climate on their campus prevents some people from saying what they believe because others might find it offensive. A University of Wisconsin report suggests that these fears are not unfounded, as fifty-eight percent of students agree that a classmate should be reported to university administrators for saying something in class that others feel causes harm to certain groups of people.
Recent reporting by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) finds that more than a third of faculty self-censor out of concern for how students, colleagues, or administrators might respond to their views, and more than half are concerned about professional repercussions stemming from protected speech acts. The National Association of Scholars reports nearly 300 academic cancellations since 2020, and FIRE's Scholars Under Fire initiative tracks more than one thousand cases since 2000.Â
Campus cancel culture has also come to the attention of alumni and trustees and the public. In a 2022 survey by FIRE, nearly 6 in 10 Americans view cancel culture as a threat to freedom, and a quarter of survey respondents admit self-censoring for fear of professional or social consequences. The public's concern about cancel culture further contributes to declining trust in higher education. While some call into question the very premise of cancel culture, regarding it as a myth, moral panic, or misappropriation of accountability culture, others claim to empirically demonstrate the reality of campus cancel culture.
This symposium joins with other efforts to teach and promote civil dialogue on college campuses by examining curiosity and intellectual courage as epistemic virtues in the pursuit of open inquiry and idea-sharing. Join us to inspire your own intellectual courage in the face of potential controversy as you explore where curiosity – and evidence and reasoning – would lead. We'll hear from Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath and other invited speakers along with contributed lightning talks, and engage in a facilitated book discussion of Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy. Join us for the virtual Spring 2024 HxLibraries Symposium, Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage on May 23, 2024!
For more information, please contact Sarah Hartman-Caverly: smh767@psu.edu
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