Sep 13 Sunday
Course description:
College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.
The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature
The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.
Sep 14 Monday
Sep 15 Tuesday
Sep 16 Wednesday
Sep 17 Thursday
Sep 18 Friday
Sep 19 Saturday
The Bethel Pride book club meets the third Saturday of each month in person at Rainy Day Paperback at 3PM or online via Discord (see below). March: Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique April: Nicked by M.T. Anderson May: Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes June: Man O'War by Cory McCarthy July: Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity August: Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
If you cannot attend in person, book club is also hosted via text chat on Friday & Saturday via Discord. Please visit store website for a link!
Sep 20 Sunday
Sep 21 Monday