War and Peace
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. liaison to the United Nations, filled Kresge Auditorium November 9 when he argued for more U.S. engagement in world affairs. "It is inexplicable to me that if we can make a difference, we should sit back and do nothing and let people slaughter each other," he told an overflow crowd. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank made a stop at Kresge on October 22. Congress's most outspoken gay-rights advocate called the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy "lousy." Less than a week later, Gen. Lee Butler, former commander of the strategic air command, was at Lane History Corner to explain the ethics of nuclear weapons strategy.
Heavy Hitters
Four major figures hit campus as part of the Stanford Presidential Lectures and Symposia in the Humanities and Arts. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the writer and African-American scholar, lectured at Kresge October 12 on reconciling humanism and multiculturalism. Stephen Jay Gould, one of the best-known popularizers of evolution and geology, talked about the academic boundaries between art and science on November 4. German cultural critic Karl Heinz Bohrer stopped at Pigott Hall on November 9 to share some thoughts on poetic nihilism. And Nigerian Nobel laureate, playwright, poet and novelist Wole Soyinka filled Kresge on December 1 for a lecture on incorporating non-Western literature into the world canon.
TV and Shopping Malls
Pulitzer winner Norman Mailer denounced television, e-mail and shopping malls at Memorial Auditorium November 30. "We have been brainwashed to believe that we are living in a wonderful and progressive world," he said. "But the people at the top don't know any more than we do." Tom Wolfe stopped by Kresge December 6 to talk about his new best-seller, A Man in Full.
