Huntingdon Presidential Fellows Host Campus-wide Discussion on Tyranny

Montgomery, Ala.—Huntingdon College Presidential Fellows in the Politics, Culture, and Civic Engagement Team, along with professors Dr. Marcus Witcher, history, and Dr. Siobahn Stiles, communication studies, will lead a campus-wide discussion on the subject of tyranny, Wednesday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. in Smith Music Building’s Delchamps Recital Hall. The discussion is free and open to students, faculty, and staff.

The Presidential Fellows PCC team has been engaged in the reading of and subsequent discussions about the graphic version of the book, “On Tyranny” (2017, Ten Speed Press), by Timothy Snyder, with illustrations by Nora Krug, since the beginning of the spring semester. According to Dr. Witcher, the students wanted to bring awareness of the topic to a wider campus audience. As a basis for the evening discussion, the team will begin by showing a videotaped interview with Mr. Snyder and Ms. Krug, and then proceed into a question-and-answer session with the audience.

“The purpose of the event and the question-and-answer session is to encourage a dialogue among members of the Huntingdon community about the danger of tyranny in the 21^st century,” said Dr. Witcher. “While Snyder is a historian, we believe that the past can offer some lessons for us moving forward—especially in the wake of a literal tyrant invading Ukraine today.”

Huntingdon President J. Cameron West is providing 30 copies of the non-illustrated version of the book in paperback for those who are interested (on a first-come, first-served basis). Pizza and drinks will be provided following the discussion.

The Presidential Fellows Program is an academic program that promotes experiential learning, encourages personal and professional development, provides individual and collective networking and community-building opportunities, and promotes scholarship through academic colloquy and individual study. Successful participation and completion of the Presidential Fellows Program provides participants with completion of undergraduate certification within their proposed academic focus area.

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