{"id":2495,"date":"2010-08-20T09:48:56","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T15:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=2495"},"modified":"2010-08-20T09:48:56","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T15:48:56","slug":"quintessentially-cc-freedom-and-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2010\/08\/quintessentially-cc-freedom-and-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"Quintessentially CC: Freedom and Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"\"<\/a>

Professor emeritus Bill Hochman<\/p><\/div>\n

They climb the stairs in Palmer Hall eager for the\u00a0 discussion, book in hand. Last year it was \u201cNickel and Dimed\u201d by Barbara Ehrenreich. This year it will be \u201cMountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World\u201d by Tracy Kidder.<\/p>\n

These are students in the truest sense \u2013 lifelong learners. They are alumni, parents, and friends who return in droves to CC\u2019s Freedom and Authority class at Homecoming and Parents Weekend. The session is a highlight for many, a nostalgic trip through the classrooms, hallways, and intellectual passageways of a CC education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis class embodies CC for many alumni. It is<\/em> CC,\u201d says Bill Hochman, professor emeritus of history, who has taught Freedom and Authority since he arrived on campus in 1955.<\/p>\n

Initiated in 1951 during the McCarthy era, Freedom and Authority was the first interdisciplinary course at Colorado College. The title is derived from the course\u2019s fundamental question: \u201cWhat is the balance between individual freedom and religious, social, and political authority?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a once-a-year book club,\u201d says Pete Ruch \u201960<\/strong>. \u201cI love it; I like to read, think, and talk about ideas. It\u2019s one of the best things about Homecoming.\u201d Ruch, who estimates he has attended at least 36 Homecomings, says Freedom and Authority, and CC in general, \u201cgets you started in learning. It helps you become a lifelong thinker, reader, and discusser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taught in all divisions for 60 years, Freedom and Authority has become a vital tradition at CC. As a math major, Ruch\u00a0 took Freedom and Authority from a physics professor, and says the interdisciplinary nature of the class was what made it so intriguing.<\/p>\n

The Homecoming session started as a Freedom and Authority reunion with 14 attendees in 1959. Last fall\u2019s session featuring \u201cNickel and Dimed,\u201d a firsthand account of life in low-wage America, attracted more than 200 participants. This year\u2019s book, \u201cMountains Beyond Mountains,\u201d profiles an infectious disease specialist\u2019s efforts to redress the inequality of medical service to the very poor. (Homecoming information at: www.MyCCReunion.com<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hochman\u00a0 says the class, a seminar-style discussion, poses different questions to each student, as it asks the eternal, and internal, questions: \u201cWho am I?\u201d \u201cWhat do I think and believe?\u201d \u201cWhy do I think and believe these things?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy real education started when I began teaching Freedom and Authority,\u201d says Hochman, who holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. \u201cIt is the quintessential CC class. It\u2019s in-depth, interdisciplinary, and heavy on class discussion and participation. This class defines CC for many alumni.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Halbert Brewer \u201969,<\/strong> who attended the Freedom and Authority session last fall when she was on campus for her 40th reunion, says \u201cIt\u2019s like I\u2019m back in class. It\u2019s stimulating to be with a group of people grappling with a hard problem.\u201d And she loved being back in an academic setting with Hochman, who she, like so many others, had as a professor. \u201cHe still thinks through things the same way. He knows how to draw the issue to make you think a little deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents enjoy the Freedom and Authority sessions as well. \u201cIt helps immerse me in my daughter\u2019s experience,\u201d said Helmi Pucino P\u201908 \u201913,<\/strong> who joined last fall\u2019s discussion while visiting her daughter, Nicole Kaufman \u201913<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s a highlight of the weekend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pucino also participated in\u00a0the 2004 Freedom and Authority session when her son,\u00a0Zak Kaufman \u201908<\/strong>, was a first-year student. That session featured Jon Krakauer\u2019s \u201cUnder the Banner of Heaven,\u201d an exploration of Mormon fundamentalism. \u201cI love the caliber of discussion and debate, and the give-and-take of the sessions,\u201d Pucino said. \u201cIt\u2019s like going back to school myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another CC parent, Janet Scabrini P\u201913<\/strong>, who attended last year\u2019s session with her son, James Silvester \u201913<\/strong>, also was impressed with the class. \u201cWe want to be here with all these thinking people,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to come to school here.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Book, One CC<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year, all alumni and parents are invited to read \u201cMountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World\u201d by Tracy Kidder. The book also is the New Student Orientation selection for the incoming Class of 2014. A series of discussions about the book are planned for alumni across the country. Information about regional book group discussions will be sent as specific dates and locations are finalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They climb the stairs in Palmer Hall eager for the\u00a0 discussion, book in hand. Last year it was \u201cNickel and Dimed\u201d by Barbara Ehrenreich. This year it will be \u201cMountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World\u201d by Tracy Kidder. These are students in the truest sense…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-august-2010","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}