Author: Haley Gray
Occidental plans to introduce a school-wide theme, tentatively called “H2Oxy,” through the Cultural Studies Program (CSP) for the 2013-14 school year.
The program will focus on the significance of water to humans and consist mainly of a speaker series and panel discussions, according to English and Comparative Literature Studies Professor and CSP program head Jonathan Swift. Included in the theme will be the 6-part CSP lecture series, an online resource available to the entire campus, a water-related theme to next year’s Alternative Spring Break program and O-Week, an interactive water-related feature in the new Mckinnon Family Center and a branding and advertising campaign on the Occidental website and in local media outlets.
A group of faculty began meeting last fall to explore the possibility of linking the required CSP lecture series to a set of college-wide activities loosely focused on the past and future of human relations to water.
“There was broad agreement among the faculty before this to establish annual conceptual themes for the campus at large for the campus to discuss,” Adjunct Professor of American Studies Thadeus Russel said. According to Russel, President Veitch is supportive and enthusiastic about the the new theme.
The new theme program was made possible by grants from the Metabolic Studio and the Annenberg Foundation. According to Russel, the Annenberg Foundation approached the college in hopes of partnering with them for a series of events related to the centennial anniversary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to take place on Nov. 5 2013.
“The program will focus on local and national water issues in the first semester of next year and shift to a more global focus in the Spring semester,” Swift said. Swift hopes that more classes will include water issues in their curricula and take advantage of the on- and off-campus speakers next year.
Another new program, OxyTalks, could be a large part of the continuity of the theming initiative, according to Russel. OxyTalks is an off-campus, public event series co-sponsored by Occidental and Zocalo Public Square, an organization aimed at fostering non-partisan discourse. The program kicked off on Tuesday, March 12 with a panel discussion titled, “How Will L.A. Face its Immigrant Future?”
According to Russel, next year’s OxyTalks will also focus on water issues at a local, national and international scale. He hopes to host events at prominent venues in Los Angeles.
“Its very much about expanding the public image of Occidental as an intellectual center. That’s why we’re doing off-campus events. We want to draw media attention. We want to show that Oxy is involved in global conversations,” Russel said.
There has been no effort so far to take student input into account in the process of theming the school for the upcoming academic year though Swift and Russel both expressed interest in gathering feedback. Russel has invited student input via email and can be reached at thaddeusrussell@gmail.com.
Swift and Russel hope that next year‘s theme will not be the last, though availability of funding will determine the amount and notability of speakers the college is able to secure.
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