Feb. 27, 2007 :: No. 136
| What: |
“Confronting Torture” is the topic of the 37th annual Cal State Fullerton Philosophy Symposium, where speakers will include a torture survivor and scholars. |
| When: |
March 8-9
9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. both days |
| Where: |
Cal State Fullerton, Titan Student Union’s Titan Theatre |
| Why: |
“We want to stimulate a discussion about what a democracy should and shouldn’t do for the sake of security,” said Craig Ihara, emeritus professor of philosophy and the symposium organizer. |
March 8
Highlights: |
 10:30 a.m.: A dramatic performance of “Interrogation Over Tea” will be presented by Hector Aristizabal, co-founder of the Center for Theater of the Oppressed Applied Theater in Los Angeles. Aristizabal was working as an actor-director and studying for his master’s degree in psychology when soldiers raided his home in 1982. When soldiers found “subversive” literature in the house, he was arrested and later released after having been tortured with beatings, electric shock to his genitals, repeatedly being held underwater to the verge of drowning, and being hogtied, hung to a pole and stretched. His life was threatened until 1989, when he escaped into exile in the United States. He is co-founder of the Colombia Peace Project and the Colombian Children’s Peace Fund.
2:30 p.m.: Thomas Hill Jr., a philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will discuss “The Indefensibility of Torture.” |
March 9
Highlights: |
9 a.m.: Nancy Sherman, philosophy professor at Georgetown University, will discuss “Stoic Equanimity in the Face of Torture.”
2:30 p.m.: Rochelle Green, a CSUF lecturer in philosophy, will discuss “Deriving Hope from Ethics in the Media: The Problem of Torture.” |
| Media Contacts: |
Craig Ihara, Philosophy Department, 657-278-2753, cihara@fullerton.edu
Mimi Ko Cruz, Public Affairs, 657-278-7586, mkocruz@fullerton.edu |
