Welcome to Freshman Seminar!
This course will introduce students to academic life at the university and help them become a part of our community at ϲʿ’s. Although the seminars are focused on very different topics, they all share a common goal: students join a community of learners and actively engage in academic and co-curricular exploration. As they do so, they will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to become successful students and lifelong learners by meaningfully confronting questions of social justice through the course materials and co-curricular experiences.
What is Freshman Seminar?
Freshman Seminars are not lecture courses, but are instead classes where students and faculty actively engage with one another as they discuss course materials. In addition, students and faculty will participate in a variety of co-curricular experiences over the course of the semester where they leave the classroom. For example, a seminar might go to an art opening, attend a book festival, or work on a service project with a local non-profit organization.
What is unique about Freshman Seminar?
Something that makes these seminars different from other classes you will take at ϲʿ’s is that they are each part of a group of seminars clustered around a particular topic; for example, Sustainability, Social Justice, or Global Engagement. Students will attend co-curricular events with others from these Learning Communities.
Common Theme
Every year, ϲʿ’s chooses a Common Theme that guides programming and discussions across campus. You will discuss the theme in your Freshman Seminars and some of the events you and your classmates attend will be related to the theme. For Fall 2024 we're excited to announce that thetheme is Defending Democracy andour incoming students will read You will receivea copy of the book at Orientation.
For more information, contact Alex Barron, Director of Freshman Seminar.
2024–2025 Common Read
The search for truth is not only an academic exercise, but a foundation of democracy. Autocrats rely on the spread of misinformation to gain and hold power. Those who wish to undermine democratic systems deliberately suppress access to history. We find ourselves in a “post-truth” era, in which democracies across the globe are in decline. As a university community, we must take responsibility for the role that the exchange of facts and ideas plays in the pursuit of a more equal and just society. As a starting point, we invite you to read Timothy Snyder’sin preparation for our Common Theme, Defending Democracy, and related conversations in the fall.
![On Tyranny - Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder](/sites/default/files/2024-04/20240417_on_tyranny_common_theme_017_copy.jpg)
“Post-truth is pre-fascism.” – Timothy Snyder
Every discipline on campus plays a unique role in shaping our understanding of the world and each field of study contains a diversity of viewpoints. To study is not to seek confirmation of what you already know, but to be open to answers to questions you don’t yet know how to ask. This is how we develop as thinkers, but also how we maintain a free and democratic society. We hope you’ll keep this in mind as you pursue your major and minor fields. You’ll also have the chance to focus specifically on these issues in your Freshman Seminars. Using Snyder’s book as a starting point, these classes and accompanying programming will explore the ways in which learning about history can help us shape our present and future.Using Snyder’s book as a starting point, these classes and accompanying programming will explore the ways in which learning about history can help us shape our present and future.
We live in an era not only of widespread distrust in and dissatisfaction with government, but also of growing socioeconomic inequalities. We know from the violent history of the previous century that this is precisely the environment in which antidemocratic parties thrive and seize power. It is this history from which Snyder draws his lessons for our current age, providing the reader with concrete steps we can take to help uphold democratic values. Perhaps best known for his workBloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, Timothy Snyder has spent a career studying the murderous regimes of the last century not simply tocataloguehorrors, but to understand how tyranny functions and how it can be stopped.
During theCovid-19 pandemic, we all experienced the anxiety and trauma of an era “unprecedented” in recent history. The threat we face now does not induce fear because we cannot know what is at stake; it is terrifying precisely because we know exactly what can happen. We have clear records of what follows whenexclusionist, antidemocratic ideologies take hold, if only we choose to look. We must not look away from knowledge and truth. Instead, we must fulfill our duty as a community of learners to face difficult histories, engage with challenging ideas, and respect the differences that exist in a pluralist democracy.
— Dr. Emma Woelk,Associate Professor of German, Director of Honors Program & Global Initiatives
How to Read the Common Text
One of the most important things we hope to do as a university is create a love of learning in our students, and the first part of that happens with the Freshman Seminar common text, a book we ask you all to read over the summer. Our committee of faculty, staff, and students has chosen On Tyranny as this year’s common text.
As you read the common text this summer, don't read as if it is a textbook. There's no need to memorize any facts. Instead, think about the issues On Tyranny raises. Make notes in the margins, mark passages that stand out to you, and write down questions you have. That way you will be well prepared to write about the book this fall and to participate in discussions in class. You will also have opportunities outside of classes to think about the book and the common theme by attending screenings of documentaries, hearing lectures by experts and going on field trips.
Email Alex Barron, Associate Professor of English and the Director of Freshman Seminar,with any questions about the common text or Freshman Seminar. And again, welcome to ϲʿ's.
Common Theme Events
More information will be coming soon regarding Fall 2024 events. To get a better idea of the types of events related to Common Theme take a look at some of our featured past events.
Fall 2023 Events
All students participated in an accessibility tour of campus
Sept 7 at 5:00 p.m.: Film screening ofanddiscussion led by DSO
Oct 18 at 6:00 p.m.:New Directions in Disability Justicewith scholar/activists Emily Shryock and Alison Kafer
Fall 2022 Events
All students went on the
Sept 30 at 5:00 p.m.: Film screening and discussion ofParis is Burning
Oct 26 at5:00 p.m.: Film screening and discussion ofGet Out
Nov 10–20:These Shining Lives attheMMNT
Fall 2021 Events
Sept 29 at 6:00 p.m.: Conversation with Stamped author, Jason Reynolds
Oct 19 at5 p.m. Film screening and discussion of13th
Nov 19 at 5 p.m.: Film screening anddiscussionofIn the Heights
Fall 2020 Events
Sept 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept 20 at 2:00 p.m.: GIZMO play reading by Anthony Clavoe (directed by Sierra Sterling ’20)
Oct 20 at 5 p.m.: How Data Can Win (and Lose) the Presidential Election
presentation and Q&A with Dr. David Thomason, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Oct 26–Nov 1: A Strange Design: A Haunting Virtual Escape Room in the Age of Data
Presented by Timothy Braun, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
Fall 2019 Events
Sept 16 at 6:00 p.m.: What Is Citizenship? A Panel Discussion
September 24 at 6 p.m.: Film screening ofDocumented
October 10 at 7 p.m.: Speaker andauthor
Nov 14–24: Marisol attheMMNT
Nov 20 at6:00 p.m.: Film screening ofChildren of Men
Past Common Themes
2023–2024:Accessibility
Book:by Alice Wong
2022–2023:Reckoning with History
Book:by Clint Smith
2021–2022: Stamped
Book:by Jason Reynolds
Speaker: Jason Reynolds
2020–2021: Data & Justice
Book:by Hannah Fry
2019–2020: Immigration
Book:by Jose Antonio Vargas
Speaker: Jose Antonio Vargas
2018–2019: Identity
Book:by Trevor Noah
Speaker: Eli Kimaro
2017–2018: Immigrant Voices
Book:by Margaret Regan
Speaker: Erika Andiola
2016–2017: Food Justice
Book:by Kelsey Timmerman
Speaker:Kelsey Timmerman
Trip: Costa Rica
Students explore the Common Theme in
2015–2016: Justice
Book:by Bryan Stevenson
Speaker:Bryan Stevenson
Trip: 28 students and three faculty memberstraveled toto explore justice, mercy and how these issues relate to race.
2014–2015: Hearts and Minds: Changing the Conversation about Mental Health
Book:by Susannah Cahalan
Speaker:Susannah Cahalan
Trip: London
2013–2014: Expanding Human Rights
Book:by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Speaker: Jackson Katz
Trip: Three students built on theirCommon Theme trip toby continuing to stand up for human rights.
2012–2013: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse: Dystopias and Sustainability
Book:by Max Brooks
Speaker: Max Brooks