Humanities & Society

Former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. assesses our nation’s status at the next Assembly Series presentation, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25. in Graham Chapel.  The event is free and open to the public, though seating for the public will be limited due to an anticipated large campus turnout. Visit the Assembly Series website for more information or call 314-935-4620.

Vice Provost Adrienne Davis recommends checking out Cultural Connections this weekend. Portfolio Gallery celebrates its 25th anniversary with a showcase of African-American art and books.

Seven staff members from throughout Washington University in St. Louis will participate in this year’s Global Diversity Overseas Seminar Program. They will travel to Ghana in June. The program is designed to give staff a global perspective on diversity through seminar meetings, group discussions, assigned readings and community-engagement opportunities culminating in an international site visit to one of WUSTL’s study-abroad programs.

Scholars from across the nation will help kick off St. Louis’ 250th “Birthday Bash” weekend when they provide their perspectives on the city’s historical significance during a daylong symposium Friday, Feb. 14, at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. in Lee Auditorium. The symposium luncheon will be held at Washington University in St. Louis.

Even at 282 years old, George Washington still enjoys a good birthday party. In celebration of George Washington Week, sponsored by WUSTL sophomore honorary society Lock and Chain, our founding father shares why he loves this country — and this campus.

Access to required anesthetic agents for a lethal injection is quickly disappearing, leaving the future of the death penalty in the United States in question. “Because the European Union opposes the death penalty, it prohibits the export of goods for executions [and] requires a time-consuming preauthorization review for every shipment of a potential ‘dual use’ pharmaceutical,” says Rebecca Dresser, JD, biomedical ethics expert and professor of law and of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “Capital cases are expensive, and state budgets are tight. High costs and concern about erroneous convictions have led a few states to abolish the death penalty in recent years. Barriers to obtaining lethal injection drugs could lead more states to do away with the death penalty altogether.”

Daniel Giuffra, a freshman and Annika Rodriguez Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, discussed his anti-smoking work as part of a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration news conference announcing a new effort to curb tobacco use among at-risk youth.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the surgeon general’s landmark report on smoking, the Brown School’s Center for Public Health Systems Science, in partnership with the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, has published two new tobacco control guides — Policy Strategies and Pricing Policy — that aim to give state and local communities the guidance and resources needed to move tobacco-control policies forward.

​The popular arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby is seeking a religious exemption from covering certain forms of contraception it would be required to provide under the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The case is headed to the Supreme Court, with oral arguments set to begin this spring. “Granting the exemption would shift the cost of accommodating Hobby Lobby’s religious exercise to employees who do not share its beliefs,” argues Elizabeth Sepper, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Such cost-shifting violates the Establishment Clause.” Sepper is one of several experts who have authored an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court arguing the unconstitutionality of Hobby Lobby’s request.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Sheryl WuDunn will present an Assembly Series address on “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Graham Chapel on Washington University in St. Louis’ Danforth Campus. A booksigning will follow in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Both events are free and open to the public.