Last Thursday, Jan 23, the Center for Peace and Justice Education presented a day-long workshop entitled Freedom School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. This expansive event consisted of four time slots, with four sessions being presented during each. The 16 total sessions were taught by an array of people, from professors to graduate students to undergraduate students (sometimes solo, sometimes on a panel). These educators all came from a range of backgrounds, some being in the Peace and Justice Department, but others coming in from history, philosophy, political science, VSB and many more.
Assistant Director of Publications and Academic Support for the Center for Peace and Justice Education, Katie Lenehan, explained that a call is sent out in November for Freedom School proposals. This often includes recurring presenters, professors that have been leading sessions for years, but this call can also be answered by students, who she will often prompt to submit their ideas as a proposal. This project, according to Lenehan, is an effort to bring people into conversation; particularly throughout the day as attendees come out of various sessions, she encourages people to talk about what they have learned and create a community environment within and through Freedom School.
Freedom School is an admirable effort which has been around for decades at Villanova, and while it would be impossible to sit through every session and do each justice, one part provided a good look at the Freedom School experience.
One of the 10 a.m. sessions, the very first batch of what would be a long day, was a panel consisting of a professor and two undergraduate seniors discussing their fall semester philosophy class, which was aptly all about freedom. The session began with a rundown from Professor Delia Popa, who taught the course, on what the class had explored and the kinds of realizations they had come to together. Popa emphasized the idea that freedom is a process of learning from others and is inherently reciprocal: we have to accept others’ freedom in order to be free ourselves.
This focus on learning brought the class to then consider, how do we learn freedom? As an attempt to answer this, the two students on the panel each discussed the philosophers they had found most helpful in thinking about this question.
First was Daniel Gueyikian, who talked about why he was so drawn to the theories of Brazilian thinker Paulo Freire. Gueyikian was incredibly well spoken and concise in his brief presentation, presenting ideas such as our inability to think our way to freedom, and breaking down exactly why this made so much sense to him. The other student on this panel, Colin Dowdell, followed up Gueyikian’s thoughts with his own short presentation on Immanuel Kant and Jean-Paul Sartre. Dowdell explained that he was more drawn to their individualistic theories on freedom and circled back around to the importance of action and education very clearly.
The three panelists wrapped up the session by continuing to lead the common thread of active learning through every theory of freedom they brought up, before opening the floor to questions. This session not only provided the audience with many interesting insights to the concept of freedom in a philosophical sense, but also highlighted the uniqueness of this course and how it allowed students like Dowdell and Gueyikian to create their own opinions and ways of thinking about freedom based on a wealth of theories. After attending this presentation, sophomore Abby Contessa walked away with a heightened interest in the course and in the philosophy of freedom.
“I’m definitely interested in taking the class [now],” Contessa said, “I liked how they included the students’ perspective and not just the professors. I also really enjoyed how Daniel brought in Freire’s debate on whether or not you can think your way to freedom.”
There is no doubt that Freedom School is an incredible event unique to Villanova, and an opportunity to get out of one’s academic comfort zone or just be in a community with others who want to discuss these pressing topics. The Center for Peace and Justice Education puts great care and effort into this all-day workshop with every intention of bringing more knowledge to students who seek it. So, next year when Freedom School opens its doors again, students can look forward to even more opportunities to learn.