The Observer, September 19, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 4
Year of Darwin event series aims to inform Case community
To commemorate the achievements of Charles Darwin, the renowned naturalist who published On the Origin of Species and influenced fields from biology to economics, Case marked the start of a year full of themed events and lectures.
The Year of Darwin, however, began before students even arrived on campus for the fall. This summer, incoming first-years were required to read the The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution by David Quammen as a part of the Common Reading program. The Common Reading program was created to provide a base from which undergraduate students build their educational careers, beginning with discussions during orientation and extending into mandatory first-year seminars the fall semester.
"The book itself focused more on the difficult decisions Darwin had to make and how he came to publish his controversial theory. So it doesn't necessarily focus on the science behind natural selection. I think that's why the committee chose it; it necessarily doesn't agree with the theory but showed the thinking behind it and how his work came to be, important for budding college students," said sophomore orientation leader Solomon Alkasov.
Starting off the Year of Darwin, author Quammen discussed his book in a speech during Fall Convocation on Aug. 28. He went on to explain how Darwin's combination of honesty and caution led to the release of his controversial publication 21 years after he first developed the idea. Because his theory was so controversial to the scientific and religious communities, Darwin waited to release his book. Alfred Wallace, another researcher, was about to publish a similar theory around the same time period, which prompted an immediate publishing.
Darwin's theory, wherein species compete with each other for survival, causes the traits that increase a species' chances of survival–thus directing the change in organisms throughout the ages–contradicted the religious dogma at the time. Intelligent design proponents argue that life on earth as we know it is far too complex to be started from microorganisms, citing a higher power. Darwin contemplated what consequences publishing such an article would place on his family and his life, and decided accordingly until the publication.
In 2007 a committee was formed to discuss and plan the celebration of Darwin in the 2008-2009 school year. This year will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin: Feb. 12, 1809. It is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of the theory and the 170th anniversary of the formulation of the theory.
What's different about this initiative is the evolution of the idea to realization. Neil Greenspan, a professor in the Department of Pathology, expressed his interest in something beyond a simple lecture, perhaps a series of lectures. Very little money was raised from the administration. Instead, the committee shrewdly reallocated funds from preexisting seminar series' around campus and gave them an overlying theme.
Fundraising from outside sources was necessary for some of the more prominent speakers, however. For those that can't attend some of the events, the committee has worked hard to videotape consenting speakers and will place the recordings on their website as a resource in the future.
The whole rationale behind the series was to clear negative consequences on such an issue. "People on neither side had a sufficient information base to delve into the actual evidence in a discussion. Even some newspapers when discussing the issue came out skewed," said Greenspan.
Several departments on campus are holding events for education, providing speeches on a breadth of topics. By the end of the year, Greenspan hopes to have 20-25 events ranging from paleontology to policy regarding teaching evolution to evolution of the immune system.
"It is just an educational exercise that focuses on the science, though there are events on the politics that prove to enlighten and stimulate a broad range of students, faculty, and the campus community beyond," said Greenspan.
According to the Year of Darwin website, the mission of these events was to "make apparent to all the full breadth and depth of the evidence for evolution and the profound importance and wide applicability of evolutionary" ideas. Also, the site claims, due to current debate on the teaching of evolution versus its alternatives, attention is diverted "from the enormous advances in evolutionary studies and the substance of real controversies in the academic evolution community."
Yesterday's event at the Inamori Center hosted Robert Richards of the University of Chicago, a noted historian and published author of books concerning evolutionary thought.
