Colloquia (Spring Semester)

First Year Colloquia Spring 2001

Below is a list of first-year colloquia being offered for the spring semester of 2001. First-year students receive 1/2 credit for their participation in a first year colloquium. Students must obtain the instructor's signature on a permission slip to participate in a colloquium. For more information, contact the colloquium instructor.

FYCO 109: Connecticut Woods

Instructor: Gary Reger                                                      
Time: W 2:40 pm  - 3:55 pm    

From the retreat of Lake Hitchcock to last weekend's hike, forests have played many roles in Connecticut: complex ecology, abode of Native Americans and colonists, economic resource, balm for the tired urban soul.  Through an eclectic selection of readings and a series of required field trips that culminate in an overnight in late April, we will be exploring some of those roles.  Students must be willing to walk in the woods in winter and early spring and have (or acquire) appropriate clothing.

Prerequisites: This course is open to all First-Year Students.   Enrollment is limited to ten.  Permission of Instructor is required.

FYCO 174: To The Mountains:  A History of Mountaineering

Instructor: Michael Lestz
Time: W 6:30pm - 9:30 pm, Half Semester Course

George Leigh-Mallory, the renowned British mountainerr who disappeared in the Himalayas in 1924, when asked why he sought to reach the summit of Mount Everest, reputedly replied:   "Because it is there."  Some climbers may be prompted to embrace mountaineering for motives akin to Mallory's cryptic sense of noblesse oblige.  But for others there are, and were historically, more tangible explanations for exploring moutains.  After the moutain world began to be entered with gusto by aplinists in the 18th century, a diverse group of individuals affiliated themselves with the moutain enterprise.  Although the "ideology" of mountaineering was born in the writings of John Ruskin and other writers of the Romantic school, in subsequent eras many other rationales were discovered for this endeavor.  This course will examine the evolution of mountaineering and the contexts into which it was thrust by a variety of people who sought to adapt it to their own lives and times.  Using a variety of texts, including memoirs and expedition books, we will examine four mountaineering endeavors:  the Victorian exploration of the Alps, the British "Conquest" of Mount Everest, the German "assaults" on the North Face of the Eiger in the 1930's, and the ascent of Nanga Parbat.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limit 16:  open only to students currently enrolled in FYSM 174 or with permission of the instructor.

FYCO 188-01: Continuing the Venetian Journey

Instructor: Diane Zannoni                                                          
Time: TBA

This colloquium will be a continuation of the First Year Seminar:  "All Roads Lead to the Sea:  Venetian Journey".  The emphasis will be on churches, palazzi, scuole, and museums that will be visited during the trip to Venice in may.  Enrollment is required for students going to Venice May 2001.

Prerequisites: Limited to students previously enrolled in FYSM 188-01.

The Trinity College On-line Musem of Tolerance Project

During the Fall 2000 semester, three first year seminars have been working together to create an on-line facility addressing topics and issues including human rights, genocide, tolerance, prejudice, racism, peace, and the like.  We have decided to name this facility, at least for now, the Trinity College On-line Museum of Tolerance.  The Museum will be an electronic resource useful to anyone who wishes to learn about these sorts of topics and/or who wishes to gain insight into how best to respond to them.  We intend for this facility to become a permanent contribution to the resources that Trinity makes available to students and others and one to which additions will continue to be made for many years to come.

During the Spring 2001 semester, 3 half credit first year colloquia will be offered based upon the On-line Museum of Tolerance.  Each colloquium will, in its own way, continue the building of this virtual facility.  FYCO-127 will focus on the actual construction and maintenance of the website and the other two colloquia will focus on various dimensions of the question of what, if anything, is owed to the victims of past crimes against humanity.

FYCO 127: The Webmaster's Colloquium

Instructor: Maurice Wade                 
Time: W 6:45 pm - 8:00 pm

The participants in this colloquium will be the webmasters for the project and will take on three main tasks.  They will evaluate the results produced in the fall by three first year seminars in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of those results.  They will decide what needs to be done to repair the most important deficiencies and make as much progress as possible in implementing these repairs.   They will take contributions generated by the other two colloquia and intergrate them into The On-line Museum of Tolerance.  This colloquium will be especially appropriate for students who have some experience and facility in website construction but is open as well to students who do not have such experience.  

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

FYCO 112: What Price Justice?  The Case of Reparations

Instructor: Andrew Gold
Time: W 6:45 pm - 8:00 pm

What do present generations owe the past?  Financial reparations have been used to "rectify" past harms done to groups of people.  Examples include reparations by Germany to (some) Holocaust survivors, payments for stolen properties, compensation for Japanese internment during WWII, possible compensation to Palestineans for land lost, etc.  All of these raise several questions:  Is money the correct "currency"?  If so, how much money?  Can lives really be monetized? Should those who are innocent of harmdoing be forced to pay for restitution for harms they did not cause?  How far back should you look?  Should there be a statute of limitations?  This colloquium will look at both the practice and ideas that lie behind the notion of restitution with the goal of providing both original essays and existing materials suitable for inclusion in The Trinity College On-line Museum of Tolerance Project.  This colloquium will be conducted in concert with others contributing to the Museum.

Prerequisites: Permission of the Instructor.

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