Upcoming events

The modern university is at a crossroads. Is it still defined by its foundational mission to cultivate curiosity and advance knowledge, or is it defined by advocacy and activism centered around certain moral absolutes? And where do Jewish students, faculty, and ideas fit in?

Join us for a SAPIR virtual event on Thursday, December 19 at 1:00 PM ET as Bret Stephens interviews Yeshiva University President Ari Berman and former Brandeis University President Ron Liebowitz for a conversation on the purpose of the modern university and the role for Jews and Jewish ideas on campus.

Critical theory – the study of the ways “oppression gets produced and reproduced within and across societies” – is the dominant method of inquiry in many areas of higher education, especially in the humanities and social sciences. Yet many scholars resist applying it honestly to the study of the Jewish people and Zionism. Were they to do so, argues Vanderbilt professor Shaul Kelner, they might find they had entirely misunderstood these categories and the place of Jews in the oppressor/oppressed dynamic.

Join us on Thursday, January 7 at 12:00PM ET for a conversation between Professor Kelner and SAPIR Associate Editor Felicia Herman as they unpack his essay, “Turning Critical Theory on Its Head,” and discuss whether and how this might be changed. Register now.