The Core 100 program invites students and faculty from the College to join us for our weekly lecture series. Each week, all of the first-year students participate in lecture-discussions with about 400 of their classmates. We have space in the Center for the Arts (Building 1P) Williamson Theatre to accommodate individual guests (no permission needed) and can have as many as two additional classes at each of the lectures. Permission is not required for classes to attend, but please notify Donna Scimeca at 718.982.3405 if you plan to bring a class.
The lectures are 50 minutes and are all in the Williamson Theatre. They meet on the following days/times: Wednesdays from 12:20pm to 1:10pm; and Thursdays at 8:00am, 10:10am, 4:40pm, and 6:30pm.
Please note that in the spring, the Saturday 10:10am lectures are held in the Center for the Arts Lecture Hall, but due to space limitations, we unfortunately cannot accommodate additional classes. The Lecture Series schedule for the Week of Monday, Feb. 16 is as follows:
Wednesday, Feb. 25
-12:20pm: “Mark Twain” presented by Donna Scimeca. (Donna will also be presenting this topic on Thursday, Feb. 26 at the 8:00am and 6:30pm lectures.)
Donna Scimeca will lead a group reading of a Mark Twain essay, which will be followed by an open forum discussion where we will try to determine just how free free speech is.
In the summer of 1905, Mark Twain wrote a short essay, titled “The Privilege of the Grave,” in which he charged that “out of fear, or out of calculated wisdom, or out of reluctance to wound friends,” the living don’t dare to say what they truly think. Such freedom of expression, he said, “ranks with the privilege of committing murder; we may exercise it if we are willing to take the consequences.” After resting for decades in the Twain archives at the University of California, Berkeley, “The Privilege of the Grave” made its first public appearance in The New Yorker magazine in December 2008.
Donna Scimeca is the Core Program and Learning Community Coordinator at the College of Staten Island. She has earned an MA degree in History from CSI and has been teaching at the College since 2002.
Thursday, Feb.26
-10:10am: “Articles of Confederation, Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the Gideon Case, “ presented by Rosemary McCall.
This lecture will discuss the Constitution, how the delegates created it, and why.
Rosemary McCall is a graduate of Brooklyn College, CUNY. She holds advanced degrees from the University of South Carolina (MS) and GWU, National Law Center (JD). This is her seventh year teaching Core 100 at CSI.
-4:40pm: “The Articles of Confederation,” presented by Edward Manganel.
Edward Manganel will present an analysis of the first constitution of the U.S., “The Articles of Confederation,” focusing on not just the well-known weaknesses of the Articles, but also their successes and importance as a political transition to the U.S. Constitution.
Professor Manganel graduated from Marist College (BA) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (MA). He is currently the Chair of Social Studies at Monsignor Farrell H.S. and teaches Advanced Placement U.S. History and Advanced Placement U.S. and Comparative Government. He has taught at CSI for 20 years and has been teaching Core 100 for ten years.
