Thinking Out
of the Lunchbox
Spring 2008
May 7, 2008
“Fixing Medicare: The Phony Crisis and the Real Crisis”
Larry R. Churchill, Ph.D.
Ann Geddes Stahlman Professor of Medical Ethics
The Medicare program goes in and out of crisis every seven years. This talk will explore the reasons why Medicare is prone to crises and which reason we need to pay attention to.
Watch streaming video of Outside of the Lunch Box discussion (Real Player or Windows Media)
April 2, 2008
Free Speech and Censorship at Work
Bruce Barry
Professor of Management and Sociology
Under our system of constitutional and employment law, you can be fired if your employer doesn’t like your speech, even if what you say has nothing to do with your work or workplace and even if it occurs off the job. Is it reasonable to expect people to check fundamental rights at the workplace door? Is the health of consensual democracy compromised when people have to sacrifice expressive rights for job security? What are the limits of free speech in a society where people live out much of their lives under the control of large private institutions not bound by the Bill of Rights?
March 5, 2008
“Islam and Europe – Sites of Conflict”
David Wasserstein
Professor of History and Jewish Studies
Why has the encounter between Islam and Europe so often gone so disastrously wrong? Was it inevitable? Can things improve?
Watch streaming video of Outside of the Lunch Box discussion (Real Player or Windows Media)
February 6 , 2008
Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and the Media
Kelly Oliver
W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy
Why do the images from Abu Ghraib prison that showed young women smiling, giving thumbs-up, while abusing naked Iraqi prisoners fascinate us? How can they maintain at their trials that they did it "just for fun"? Is the military using women as weapons of war?
Watch streaming video of Outside of the Lunch Box discussion (Real Player or Windows Media)