Greensboro College Offers Three Courses to the Public for Spring 2018

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Registration opens to the public today for three Greensboro College courses being offered for Spring 2018. They are:

  • A seminar on the Holocaust.
  • A class that examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through film.
  • A seminar on the history of the civil-rights movement both nationally and in Greensboro.

“Whose Guilt, Individual and Collective? The Holocaust in History: Religious, Ethical, and Philosophical Questions” is an introductory course to the historical study of the Holocaust, its causes, and the lingering religious, ethical, and philosophical questions it prompts about individual and collective guilt.

As was another Holocaust course taught at Greensboro College in Spring 2017, the course will be team-taught by Karl Schleunes, a pioneering and world-renowned scholar of the Holocaust from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Schleunes will be joined by Carolyn Sanzenbacher, Honorary Fellow of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish-Non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton in England.

The course will meet from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jan. 9-May 1. Students may audit or seek credit in History or in Religion, Ethics and Philosophy.

Students, whether enrolled for credit or audit, will conduct two interactive research projects that are designed to increase understanding of the plight and conditions of both Holocaust victims and Holocaust bystanders.

Each student will be assigned the identity of a specific European victim and will report to the class from that standpoint. This will allow Jewish victims from different parts of Europe to give voice to how they were being affected as the Holocaust unfolded, while allowing students to reflect on those events from victim perspectives.

Each student will also investigate the bystanders of one Western nation, with emphasis on the documented responses of Christian leaders. This will enable the class to compare the responses and/or silences of multiple nations to the plight of European Jewry, while encouraging students to reflect on the varying conditions and choices that bystanders faced.

Both interactive projects are designed to draw heavily from the extensive holdings of the Levy-Lowenstein Holocaust Collection, which was created and endowed by Jane and Richard Levy of Greensboro. The collection is housed at the college’s James Jones Addison Library.

“Beyond the Walls: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Through Film” will meet weekly for a brief lecture and then a screening of an Israeli and/or Palestinian film, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The films will be primarily 21st-century feature films, along with a few documentaries. They reflect multiple ideological points of view as well as a range of genres — everything from the nationalist-hero epic, gangster narrative, and epistolary narrative, to drama, comedy, satire, and animation.

The course, which will meet from 4 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. Mondays, Jan. 8-April 30, is for English credit and may be audited. But it will take a cross-disciplinary approach intended to expose students to the historical, political, religious, and cultural forces at play in the conflict.

“The Civil Rights Movement,” which will meet 11 a.m.-noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Jan. 8-April 30, is an advanced, readings-based seminar on America’s black freedom struggles, and Greensboro’s in particular, from 1945 through the early 1970s.

The first quarter of the course will cover 1945-1954; the second, 1954-1965; the third, 1965-1970s. The last quarter will cover the legacies and evolving popular memory and public history of the civil-rights movement in America.

Students will read both classic texts and the latest scholarship in the historiography of the movement, watch documentaries, examine primary documents and oral histories, and visit with veterans of Greensboro’s black freedom struggles.

Those interested in any or all of these courses should contact Becky Quigley at 336-272-7102, ext. 5210, or rebecca.quigley@greensboro.edu, or apply online before the college closes Dec. 15 for the semester break.

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and four master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features an 18-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities.

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Media Contact:
Lex Alexander, Director of Communications
lex.alexander@greensboro.edu

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Joshua Fitzgerald photo

“I loved the GC Honors program and Greensboro College. I felt safe and a sense of genuine belonging at the college. I worked closely with my thesis advisor and professors who helped inspire me to define my path and passion of interest. That path has led me to my doctoral studies in Engineering Mechanics.”

- Joshua Fitzgerald, Class of ’19, Mathematics Major

Joshua currently studies astrodynamics at Virginia Tech University and is an Engineering Mechanics Ph.D. Candidate.