Education initiatives for a demographic that some would label as “ex-offenders” are often met with skepticism or even hostility. Why should we have a special focus on people who betrayed society through criminal activity? If those who broke the law are denied opportunities for higher learning, isn’t that just a […]
Author: Anthony Barr
Is Clinton’s Free College Plan Just?
Eastern University president Dr. Duffett wrote an article in August for the Philadelphia Inquirer arguing for the inclusion of private colleges in Hillary Clinton’s plan for free college. Clinton’s proposed New College Compact ensures free tuition at four-year public colleges for every student whose family’s annual earnings are $85,000 or […]
Lacrae Performs At Eastern In “Higher Learning” Tour
Lecrae finished his opening songs and then began to talk. “It’s not about me,” he said. “I’m like the moon: the moon doesn’t have any light in itself, it just reflects the Sun.” And that’s when I totally freaked out because I realized he was going to perform Background, my […]
Movie Reflection: “Spotlight”
Spotlight, a Best Picture Grammy nominee, tells the devastating but true story of the Boston Globe Spotlight team that broke the story in 2002 of the Catholic Church’s cover up of priests sexually abusing children. Here’s the story this team of journalists explored: a prominent leader in the Catholic Church […]
We Are Human: Finding Unity Through Art
She was number 27 and they called her the Devil’s child. She, a girl of only three years old, lived in an orphanage in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Her father was killed by rebel soldiers, and her mother died of starvation, choosing to feed her daughter instead. She was just […]
Higher Ed: A Year In Review Race, Campus Culture and a Confident Pluralism
Colleges and universities have long been considered hotbeds of social activism, to the exultation of some and the frustration of others. Social movements often find support amidst college students — fledgling civic members who are spending hours upon hours learning to understand America’s history and politics. So it comes as […]
When a Company Takes a Political Stance, What Should We Do?
Who knew red cups could cause such reactions? Starbucks’ red holiday cups have recently been in the news because some have interpreted their lack of Christmas imagery as evidence that Starbucks is waging a “war on Christmas.” Most of my friends have looked at this controversy with amusement, recognizing that […]
Great Coffee at the JJ, but is it Fair?
Eastern Professor Nancy Thomas often shares the words of Eastern alumnus and justice advocate Bryan Stevenson in class: “the opposite of justice is poverty.” The fair trade coffee movement has provided one answer to the injustice of poverty by insisting that everyone involved in production, from South America to the […]
Strangers and Neighbors
On Sept. 10, the Agora Institute hosted a lecture by Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik. Entitled “Religious Freedom and the Flourishing City,” this lecture, which was part history lesson, part political treatise, provided a compelling vision for religion in 21st-century America. Rabbi Soloveichik is a prominent Jewish theologian. In addition to […]
Book Review: “I am Malala”
“I Am Malala,” the remarkable true story of Malala Yousafzai’s fight for the right to education, has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 29 weeks. Her memoir was called “fearless” by “The Guardian,” while “The Washington Post” wrote, “this is a book that should be read not only […]