KALAMAZOO, Mich.—US Catholicism scholar Kathleen Hoscher spoke this past Wednesday about the separation between church and state in a New Mexico town during the 1950s and 60s and the national controversy that would follow.
Reading from a dissertation, Hoscher discussed a town’s anger against the local public school, which was predominantly staffed by catholic nuns. Concerned Protestants contacted the Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a national organization at the time that sought to keep catholic nuns out of public schools. This confrontation sparked a series of court cases that have shaped the public school system that exists today.
Speaking with no microphone to a crown of 31, the event took place at 7 p.m. in the Olmstead Room of Mandelle. Among them was Shreena Gandhi, Religion instructor and friend of Hoscher. Gandhi opened the speech with an introduction about her friend, repeating how pleased she was to have Hoscher at K. The room was scattered with rows of couches and chairs brought in from other areas of the building, but the room was only spotted with listeners.
At the conclusion of the speech, questions were asked, mostly about legislation and court cases that followed the controversy. Hoscher answered all questions with detailed information, as she was clearly very knowledgeable about the topic. Many students felt the talk was informative. “I learned a lot about something I didn’t even know happened,” Kyle Thomas said after the event. “I was hapy I made the trip.” The overall consensus was that the event was a success.
Five LACs remain for the rest of the month. No LACs remain that involve religion faculty.
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1 comment:
Eddie,
I thought that this was a very succinct and effective summary of an interesting speech. I thought you did an especially good job of sounding unbiased and politically correct when discussing a very politically and religiously sensitive issue.
I thought that your article could have had a few direct quotations from the speaker, although I thought the fact that you interviewed members of the audience was thorough.
Good job!
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