ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS IN THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT

THE PHILOSOPHY CLUB:
This lively group of students meets (almost) every Thursday during club hours for pizza and conversation in the Wartofsky Reading Room (attached to the Philosophy main office.) Topics of discussion have included "Does God Exist?" "If Affirmative Action Justice or Injustice?" "When Is War Justified?" "Economic Theories of Marx and Smith." And many other topics. The club sometimes organizes joint meetings with other clubs, such as the History Club, the Political Science Club, or campus religious organizations on topics of mutual interest. The club also co-hosts receptions with the philosophy department, and helps with conferences. Any interested students are welcome to attend.

THE ESSAY CONTEST:
Every year the philosophy department sponsors an essay contest resulting in an award of $200 for the best essay in a lower level course, and an upper level course in philosophy. These essays are kept on file in the philosophy office.

CONFERENCES:
The philosophy department has held two national scale conferences in recent years:

• Women and the U.S. Constitution: History, Interpretation, and Practice was co-hosted by Prof. Sibyl Schwarzenbach and Prof. Patricia Smith and held Feb. 8-10, 2001. It attracted legal scholars from across the country including Martha Nussbaum, U. of Chicago, Jane Mansbridge, Harvard, Judith Resnik, Yale, and Francis Fox Piven, CUNY.
• Racism and Philosophy was sponsored by Visiting Distinguished Prof. Michael Levine and held March 6-7, 2002. It included speakers Tommie Shelbie, Harvard, Sally Haslanger, MIT, Tamas Pataki, Univ. of Melbourne, and Larry Blum, U. Mass, Boston.

THE MARX WARTOFSKY MEMORIAL LECTURE & AWARD CEREMONY:
This Lecture and Award Ceremony is an annual event occurring every April. Past lecturers have included Professor Yuriko Saito, speaking on "The Beauty and Fragility of Existence: A Japanese Perspective," Professor Mark Kingwell, speaking on "Representations of the Intellectual in Everyday Life," and Professor Michael Levine, speaking on "Integrity and the Fragile Self."