Lyceum: the anti-club club
Group attempts to bridge campus groups &?ideas
Marieke Van Der Vaart
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: News
A semester-old campus group, the Lyceum, is attempting to bridge different clubs and ideas without being a club itself.
"We've never really wanted to be a club that takes up people's time for no apparent reason, or a mutual affirmation society," Lyceum president and junior Eric Coykendall said. "We wanted to organize events to bring the campus in."
The group organizes two events: the Liberal Arts Friday Forums, held twice a year the Friday of parent's weekend, and monthly Hunt Club Colloquiums, where different campus clubs are invited to select a book or reading and lead a discussion on it.
The two events summarize the mission of the Lyceum.
"It's a vehicle for getting people together who don't agree," Coykendall said.
Named for the school Aristotle taught from 335 to 332 BC, the group consists of four officers and a faculty advisor, Assistant Professor of Political Science Nathan Schlueter. In all other ways it lacks the trappings of normal clubs.
"It's not itself a group - there's no way to join. We don't have meetings," Schlueter said.
"We look funny because we're an anti-club," Coykendall said.
Begun by Schlueter as an offshoot of the Politics Club, the Lyceum approaches controversial questions by integrating different studies. The broad range mirrors the broad interests of its faculty sponsor, Coykendall said.
"He's a political science professor who doesn't know what he wants to study," Coykendall said, laughingly referring to the adviser, who teaches in three academic departments.
"All of us share an interest in where the disciplines meet," Schlueter said. "We wanted a group with a wider scope - that could treat subjects more widely in the scope of the liberal arts," Schlueter said. "Questions like 'Is beauty truth?' weren't really a political science question."
The Liberal Arts Friday Forums feature different members of faculty discussing controversial questions in a forum format.
"They're always entertaining," Coykendall said.
Schlueter said the forums give students a chance to see professors interact with each other intellectually, respectfully, something students don't often see. Regular attendee and senior Wendy Bateman agreed.
"I like the way they bring together the disciplines," Bateman said. "We don't see a lot of association of the different departments. It sets an example for decent discourse that students could learn from."
This also brings departments together, Coykendall said.
"What we're trying to do is bring them together in a way that doesn't increase the rift," he said.
For the future, Schlueter said the club prides itself in not shooting for too much.
"We're too busy to heave too much vision," Schlueter said. "One of our goals has been not overextend ourselves. Everyone's busy on campus."
"We've never really wanted to be a club that takes up people's time for no apparent reason, or a mutual affirmation society," Lyceum president and junior Eric Coykendall said. "We wanted to organize events to bring the campus in."
The group organizes two events: the Liberal Arts Friday Forums, held twice a year the Friday of parent's weekend, and monthly Hunt Club Colloquiums, where different campus clubs are invited to select a book or reading and lead a discussion on it.
The two events summarize the mission of the Lyceum.
"It's a vehicle for getting people together who don't agree," Coykendall said.
Named for the school Aristotle taught from 335 to 332 BC, the group consists of four officers and a faculty advisor, Assistant Professor of Political Science Nathan Schlueter. In all other ways it lacks the trappings of normal clubs.
"It's not itself a group - there's no way to join. We don't have meetings," Schlueter said.
"We look funny because we're an anti-club," Coykendall said.
Begun by Schlueter as an offshoot of the Politics Club, the Lyceum approaches controversial questions by integrating different studies. The broad range mirrors the broad interests of its faculty sponsor, Coykendall said.
"He's a political science professor who doesn't know what he wants to study," Coykendall said, laughingly referring to the adviser, who teaches in three academic departments.
"All of us share an interest in where the disciplines meet," Schlueter said. "We wanted a group with a wider scope - that could treat subjects more widely in the scope of the liberal arts," Schlueter said. "Questions like 'Is beauty truth?' weren't really a political science question."
The Liberal Arts Friday Forums feature different members of faculty discussing controversial questions in a forum format.
"They're always entertaining," Coykendall said.
Schlueter said the forums give students a chance to see professors interact with each other intellectually, respectfully, something students don't often see. Regular attendee and senior Wendy Bateman agreed.
"I like the way they bring together the disciplines," Bateman said. "We don't see a lot of association of the different departments. It sets an example for decent discourse that students could learn from."
This also brings departments together, Coykendall said.
"What we're trying to do is bring them together in a way that doesn't increase the rift," he said.
For the future, Schlueter said the club prides itself in not shooting for too much.
"We're too busy to heave too much vision," Schlueter said. "One of our goals has been not overextend ourselves. Everyone's busy on campus."
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