Fall 2024 Op-Ed Round-Up

A vital part of the implicit social contract between universities and the communities of which they are a part is the contribution to public discourse and civic dialogue. This fall, several College of Humanities faculty wrote opinion pieces for local newspapers and speciality news outlets; here they are in case you missed them earlier this semester!

Christopher Lewis, Associate Professor and Chair of the World Languages and Cultures department, penned a commendation of Utah's dual language immersion programs and the College of Humanities best-in-the-nation Bridge program in the Salt Lake Tribune. 

Scott Black, Professor of English and Director of the Tanner Humanities Center, and Robert Carson, Associate Director for the Tanner Humanities Center, co-wrote a celebration of the humanistic tradition of international literary inquiry and the ways it enriches our society and our citizens, in the Salt Lake Tribune. 

Paul Reeve, Simmons Chair of Mormon Studies and Professor of History, published a thoughtful and historically grounded consideration of the legacies of Joseph Smith and George Washington that are reflected through modern times in the peaceful transfer of power between political administrations, which appeared in the Deseret News. He also wrote a poignant reminder of the costs of exclusion and anti-immigrant rhetoric throughout U.S. history in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Michael Christopher Low offered a thoughtful consideration of the value of expertise and how scholars continue to deliver the university's core mission of outstanding classroom education to students amidst tumultuous times in the Salt Lake Tribune. 

And last but certainly not least, James Tabery, Professor of Philosophy, co-authored an op-ed with Arthur Caplan (Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine) about the insidious eugenics arguments re-appearing in today's political discourse, which appeared in Scientific American.