3/27/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Committee Chair, (319) 273-6233 or <martha.reineke@uni.edu>
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing & Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
'Gender dimorphism' topic for Monday, April 2 Hearst Lecture
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- "The Violence of Gender Dimorphism" will be the next topic discussed in the University of Northern Iowa's Hearst Lecture Series at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, in the Maucker Union Expansion.
Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss recent efforts to oppose the surgical correction of "intersexed" or hermaphroditic infants. Butler also will examine the new emergence of transsexualism in American culture, and the ethical issues raised by assigning a gender to hermaphroditic infants in a society in which the concept of gender is changing.
Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Committee chair, said "Butler will explain how life for hermaphroditic persons could be different if we thought more ambiguously, if not everyone had to be either one or the other -- male or female." Reineke said Butler's reference of violence in the lecture title refers to both the "literal violence" of surgery and also the "philosophical violence" of society's concept of gender being only physically defined.
The UNI Department of Philosophy and Religion is the host for this year's series, which is funded by the Meryl Norton Hearst Chair in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Butler's lecture is co-sponsored by UNI's Project SERVE and the Kellogg Foundation. The lecture is free and open to the public.
In preparation for the Butler's lecture, the philosophy and religion department is hosting a video and discussion session on "Should There Be Only Two Sexes?," at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 29, in Wright Hall Room 8. It will deal with the sociological and philosophical issues associated with the surgical "correction" of infants with ambiguous genitalia. Discussion facilitators will be Reineke, along with Susan Hill, associate professor of religion, and Katherine Schmidt, instructor in sociology.
For more information, contact Reineke at (319) 273-6233 or martha.reineke@uni.edu.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jon Hall, associate professor of communication studies, (319) 273-7159
Vicki Grimes, Office of University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The Iowa High School Speech Association will hold its 23rd annual Individual Events All-State Speech Festival at the University of Northern Iowa Monday, April 2. The event will showcase the talents of an estimated 400 students from nearly 200 schools across the state.
The festival brings students together in a non-competitive format featuring 13 speech events: acting, storytelling, improvisational acting, original oratory, radio news, prose, poetry, literary program, public address, spontaneous speaking, expository address, after dinner speaking, and reviewing.
The festival will begin with an 8:30 a.m. session in the West Gymnasium. Performance sessions will begin at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 3 p.m., and are open to the public. A schedule of room assignments will be available in the Communication Arts Center lobby. Performance centers will be the Strayer-Wood Theatre, Communication Arts Center, Schindler Education Center, Seerley Hall Great Reading Room, Lang Hall Auditorium and Maucker Union Expansion.
Jon Hall, UNI associate professor of communication studies, has served as festival manager for the annual event since its inception in 1978. He said it is not a tournament or competition, but rather a showcase of the state's top-rated speech students who have advanced through from the IHSSA district and state tournaments earlier this year. Some 10,000 students begin the "road to state" in smaller tournaments each fall and winter.
Hall said guest critics for the festival do not score participant performances, but observe and offer suggestions. He expects the festival to bring about 4,000 people to campus, including the students, their parents and friends, and other spectators.
Guest critics for the festival include, from UNI, Bill Henderson, associate professor of communication studies; Mary Bozik, professor of communication studies; Leah White, assistant professor of communication studies; and Jay Edelnant, professor of theatre.
Other guest critics are Bob Larson, Luther College, Decorah; Jay Sierszyn, Waldorf College, Forest City; Bobbi Earles, KWWL TV, Waterloo; Gene Perry, North East Iowa Community College, Peosta; Cindy Cochran, Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids; Dennis Doyle, Central College, Pella; and Richard Riggleman, and Jay Shelp, both in the IHSSA Hall of Fame.
The IHSSA Individual Events All-State Speech Festival is hosted by UNI's Departments of Teaching, Communication Studies and Theatre.
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