The Graduate Center of the City University of New York has recently taken on a new initiative. Since blogging is a proven, effective means of communication among large numbers of people, The Great Issue Forum was launched this year under the leadership of Corey Robin, Associate Professor of political science at Brooklyn College. The Great Issues Forum is an ongoing, online discussion about power in the contemporary world—Topics are slated to change yearly, and the core concept of this year’s discussion was ‘Power.’
Participants—those who post articles and/or comments on the Forum—include prominent journalists, intellectuals and writers, as well as select CUNY faculty and graduate students. The blog is public, open to anyone to post and read. “We’re looking for people who are thinkers and writers—people who have thought about a topic. People generally blog to write about things they don’t usually talk about,” says Robin. “What makes us unique is the idea that someone who’s kind of a big deal in academic world could bring together text and talk.”
In keeping with the City University’s mission, the blog is posted on a public Web site; by allowing not only everyone in the CUNY community but everyone interested in ideas the opportunity to have their voice heard. “The GIF provides a unique window into the unparalleled intellectual world of this, the largest public university in the country,” says Andrea Jeyaveeran, Director of The Great Issues Forum.
“Conversations at the Forum” Gives Blogs a Voice—Literally
This fall, The Great Issues Forum hosted events at The Graduate Center, titled “Conversations at the Forum,” where some of the guest bloggers lead discussions about their blogs in relation to power. In a series of high-profile, free public Conservations, The Great Issues Forum examined the ways in which various categories of power work in our world. Anyone can attend the events – students, faculty, staff and the general public – and they are free of charge.
In order to attend these speaker events, pre-registration is required. Some of this year’s guest speakers and bloggers included Biblical scholar Barbara Savage, activist Naomi Klein, and writer Tom Stoppard—to name just a few.
BMCC faculty and students can join the online seminar at (greatissuesforum.org/blog) by posting responses to entries made by visiting bloggers and other CUNY faculty. “Faculty can use the Seminar topics and texts in their classes to stimulate discussion or base assignments on,” says Jeyaveeran. “Faculty will soon be able to apply for the next round of Great Issues Forum fellowships.”
This winter, the Center for the Humanities will accept applications for six faculty course release-time fellowships and six dissertation fellowships for participation in a similarly-themed bi-weekly interdisciplinary seminar and online forum. (For more information, please click here) “We hope members of the BMCC community will consider applying and engaging with upcoming conversations on Great Issues and their CUNY colleagues,” says Jeyaveeran.
How the Site Stands Out
With so many blogs out there, what is it that truly sets the Great Issues Forum apart? Besides the fact it’s affiliated with CUNY, of course. “The Great Issues isn’t actually a school as much as it is an innovative new public forum for the creation and distribution of faculty work,” says Jeyaveeran. “Rather than the typical academic seminar, which leaves faculty and students cloistered in the seminar room, the GIF seminar allows some of our star faculty and students, such as BMCC’s Patricia Mathews-Salazar, to think in public.”
The Great Issues Forum is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and presented by the Center for the Humanities. Join in the discussions and read the blogs at Greatissuesforum.org.
