UMass History Department 2024-2025 Feinberg Series: What Are Universities For?

The UMass History Department has unveiled its 2024-2025 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture series. The theme of this year’s program is: What Are Universities For: Struggles for the Soul of Higher Education. All lectures are free and open to the public. They will be available in person on the UMass campus and over Zoom.

The series begins on Tuesday, September 24 at 6 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium with Davarian L Baldwin, Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College, speaking on “Is Higher Education Good for Our Communities? Assessing the Past and Forging a New Path Forward.” With an eye to the University of Massachusetts, Davarian L. Baldwin will draw from his book In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower to discuss the “public good” of higher education as it has shifted from a service provider of education and research to acting as a major force of economic development and political governance in our communities. Today’s universities are embroiled in the swirling forces of student debt, labor organizing, corporatization, campus protest and suppression, and a waning public confidence in higher education. Baldwin will explore how we got here, the costs and benefits of what he calls “UniverCities,” and the possibilities for a more liberatory path forward.

The second talk, on Wednesday, October 9, is “Striving for Restorative Justice and Repair in Academe” by Timothy Eatman with Tanisha Arena and Rose Webster-Smith at 6 p.m. in the UMass Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall. How do the legacies of slavery and colonialism continue to constrict possibilities for Black and Indigenous college students and for their communities? What can be done to repair these harms and build a more just future? How does a shrinking imagination in academic work stifle efforts to envision the universities and communities we need?

Educational sociologist and urban education scholar Timothy Eatman will discuss the roles of publicly engaged universities and impassioned educators in the work of reparations. In addition to serving as Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University,  Eatman is a member of the Project H.E.R.E. (Higher Education Reparations Engagement) task force, which serves as “a resource and networking hub for campuses and local communities that are examining their histories, responsibilities, and commitments to restorative justice and repair for the historic and current injustices of slavery and colonialism.” Eatman’s address will be opened by reflections from western Mass grassroots racial and economic justice organizers Tanisha Arena (Executive Director, Arise for Social Justice) and Rose Webster-Smith (Executive Director, Springfield No One Leaves).

The rest of the series includes a panel discussion on “The Attack on Honest History,” with Jesse Hagopian, Paul Ortiz, and Ellen Schrecker on Tuesday, October 22 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. On Monday, November 4 at 6 p.m. on Zoom, there will be a panel discussion with Joe Berry and Diana Vallera on “The Academic Labor Movement Now.”

The fall portion of the series concludes with “What Are the Humanities For? Academic Thought After the Neoliberal University, “by Christopher Newfield at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The year-long series resumes in February.

For the full schedule and to register for the Zoom sessions, see here.

The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates.