2011 NEW JERSEY SCHOLARS PROGRAM
Sunday, June 26 through Friday, July 29
Human Rights: Past. Present. Future.
During the Program, the faculty assigned several short papers and one major interdisciplinary research project to be handed in at the conclusion of the Program. This final project was the culmination of the Scholar’s experience. The following gives and idea of the seminars and the final research projects:
Art & Architecture
Barbara Stehlé
Rhode Island School of Design
Ph.D. Sorbonne, Paris
The 2011 New Jersey Scholars Program gathered 39 rising High School Seniors and 4 professors, specialist in their respective fields. Together they worked for five weeks on human rights. Art history was cast as a field of investigation of the human condition; Art as a conceptual construct and cultural indicator. The students learned to analyze artistic creations in most of its manifestations: Film, Architecture, Photography, Installation, Painting and Sculpture. They were initiated in new ways of seeing and thinking. They became aware that architecture incarnates discourses of power and that film can be a tool to change the politics of a nation for the better or for the worst.
Students spent most of their time considering the complex relationship of art to history. They studied the place of art during revolutions and tyrannies. They looked at their own country, they looked at others, learned to listen to different voices, to think of artists as philosopher using an abstract language sometimes. They reflected on notions of truth and photography and watched the work of war reporters and filmmakers working for government agencies. They read Susan Sontag “About the Pain of others” and shared their views on creativity, art and life.
All the students contributed to a joyful and thoughtful academic summer. Their friendship and respect for each other reflected in a beautiful energy in class and much was achieved.
Nadia Badaoui “Bansky: The Enigma, Analyzed Through the Ethnographical Lens
of Clifford Geertz.”
Patrick Birk “Human rights in the Hip Hop of Seattle.”
Mark Gorenstein “Sartre and Camus’s Existentialism and the Algerian War of
Independence.”
Margaret Lamb “Woman as Saint, Woman as Sinner: How the Changes From
Traditional Depictions of Eve, Mary Magdalene, and Mary During
The 18th and 19th Centuries Reflected Similar Changes in the Treatment of Women Northwestern Europe.”
Kaitlin McCabe “Edouard Manet and Human Rights Violations in XIX Century
France.”
William McComb “Hitler’s Lens: Symbolism in Nazi architecture.”
Emily Reimer “Painting the Truth: Edouard Manet and Censorship.”
Brian Schendt “What is the Role of Architecture and Design in Providing Basic
Necessities to Humanity and Paving the Way for Welfare Rights in Coming Generations?”
Radhika Srivastava “Can the Events in the Documentary “The Greatest Silence” be
Explained? What Socio Cultural Factors Caused the Increase in
Rape in the Congo?”
History & Politics
David Figueroa-Ortiz
Princeton Day School, Princeton, NJ
J.D. Columbia University, School of Law
The 2011 New Jersey Scholars Program took up the challenge of exploring the topic “Human Rights: Past, Present, Future.” As we studied this rich topic from the perspective of History/Politics, Scholars never ceased to question, probe, and wrestle with imponderables like: what is the nature of a right? What role does human rationality, experience, and sentiments play in the architecture of political organizations? What has been the trajectory, the history, of the idea of individual rights? Is state sovereignty an obstacle to, or a vehicle for, the validation of human rights? What is the value, if any, of declarations that may lack enforcement mechanisms yet capture the aspirations and excite the imagination of peoples around the world? Lest we got lost in valuable but perhaps ideas that were too abstract, Scholars also delved into complex and fundamental questions of political engagement: What is my – our – role in promoting political change given that I – we – are the state, the people? Mindful of Gandhi and Dr. King, we struggled with the challenge: are we prepared to become the change we want to see in the world? Are we prepared to proclaim that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere?
During the five-week residential program, Scholars developed social as well as academic skills in a variety of settings and through multiple opportunities. The principal academic activity was the “harkness” seminar sessions, which culminated in an original piece of research.
Joan Abbott “The Death of Bin Laden: Assassination in Cold Blood or National
Self-Defense?”
Gabrielle Abramowitz “From Scopes to Dover: Analyzing the Role of the First
Amendment in the Teaching of Evolution an Intelligent Design in
Public Schools”
Sophia Aguilar “El Salvador: The Justification of Tragedy.”
Emera de Los Santos “Affirmative Action: A Violation or a Vindication of Human
Rights?”
Peter Hopper “The Shield and the Benefactor: Warring Conceptions of Human
Rights”
Zachary Lustbader “We the People (of the States): State Sovereignty and Secession in
American History as a Reflection of Collective Rights”
Zachary Morrow “A Duty to Aid: United States Foreign Policy in Haiti.”
Karan Parekh “Analysis of Locke and Malthus and Human Rights Implications.”
Eric Sawyer “‘Separate but Equal?’ How Money Divides Us in the United
States Justice System.”
Jose Vazquez “How Important was Religion to the Founding Fathers?”
Literature
Champ Atlee
The Lawrenceville School
M.A. Millersville University
Aaron Beller “An Examination of the Definition of Humanity According to Philip
K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ridley
Scott's film Blade Runner.”
Manik Bhatia “A Choice of Nightmares: Human Nature in Heart of Darkness.”
Matthew Blake “A 5th Century Perspective on Human Rights.”
Connor Feeley “How has the Practice of Plea Bargaining Impacted the Nature of
Retributive Justice in the United states?”
Lauren Forman “Whose National Sovereignty Should the International Community
Recognize and On What Grounds?”
Loryn Helfmann “The Role of the Freudian View of the Development of Sexual
Identity in the Characterizations in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood".
Alessandra Lazarek “An Analysis of Duty in Franz Kafka's Novella, The
Metamorphosis."
Mai-Lee Picard “An Exploration of Culpability in Regards to the Trial of Henry
Wirz After the Civil War.”
Paul Quigley “Do Science Fiction Societies Reflect Attainable Human Rights?”
Neil Rangwani “A Comparison of the Methods and Influences of Henry David
Thoreau, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and Martin Luther king Jr.”
Religion & Ethics
Amy Glenn
The Lawrenceville School
M.A. Columbia University
The 2011 New Jersey Scholars Program centered upon a thorough and multidisciplinary examination of Human Rights. What are the origins of Human Rights? Do rights exist outside of legal frameworks? What light does religion shed on this question? Literature? History? Art? Thirty nine of the top young scholars in New Jersey were selected to attend this prestigious five week program at The Lawrenceville School. They represented the best and brightest of their generation and gave much of their heart and mind to this examination while thriving under the guidance of skilled and caring teachers.
Kelsey Blair “What to Expect when you are Expecting, or, How the Definition
of Personhood of a Fetus Affects the Abortion Debate.”
Joshua Blecher-Cohen “An Explicit Consideration of Bisexuality within
Conservative Jewish Discourse on Same-Sex Attraction.”
Shannon Callinan “The Legitimacy of the Superior Orders Defense: Why Orders
Excuse Crimes.”
Alexander Davis “The Biological Roots of Morality: Where Science and Ethics Meet.”
Brittany Ghicondey “Economics and Enforcement: Efforts to Eradicate Sex
Trafficking.”
Lauren Guiltinan “Edible Ethics: What’s on your Dinner Plate? The Connection
Between Human and Animal Rights.”
AbdelRahman Morsy “Insights Gained: Applying Philip Zimbardo’s Studies of Evil to the
1968 My Lai Massacre.”
Lyra Schweizer “Our Final Right: The Ethics of Euthanasia.”
Matthew Sussis “Exploited: The Effects of Sexualization of Culture and
Advertising on Body Image.”
Sharon Tang “God’s Omnipotence in Human Hands: The Ethics of Reprogenetics and Designer Children.”