2005-2006

October 20, 2005
Author bell hooks comes to speak at Whitman. A cultural critic, feminist theorist, author, speaker, and professor, bell hooks’ lecture was entitled “Ending Domination: What Does Love Have to do With It?” A critic of mainstream feminist theory, she insists that feminism should acknowledge differences among women, which has become a central tenet of feminist scholarship.

2006-2007

September 22, 2006
Irish American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly plays at the Reid Ballroom. With a wide array of instruments and high energy, the concert sold 600 tickets in less than two hours and resulted in a sweaty, chaotic dance party.

October 19, 2006
ACLU President Nadine Strossen discusses present state of civil liberties in the U.S., for the William O. Douglas lecture series.

February 12, 2007
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks about the environment, and appeals to America to address violations of the environment. “This is not just the destruction of the environment (that we face),” he said. “It’s the subversion of democracy.”

February 23, 2007
White House Press Corps veteran Helen Thomas, who covered President John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, speaks at Cordiner Hall for the Hosokawa Lecture. She laments America’s fall from grace in the world’s view, and says that we’ve “lost our halo,” due to the illegal war in Iraq and “hustling for deep pockets” by politicians.

2007-2008

October 18, 2007
Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) comes to Whitman. He’s best known for his music, which could be described as mashups, except he uses eight to twenty different songs per song. Tickets sold out in record time, and many students were unable to acquire them.

November 8, 2007

Salman Rushdie draws from his own experience with censorship to discuss the necessity of free speech, contentious or sympathetic. He also speaks about religion and migration in a talk that stretched beyond an hour. Rushdie receives a standing ovation from the capacity crowd. He then answers questions on topics ranging from his recent knighthood to Columbia University’s hosting of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September.

May 1, 2008

Aesop Rock, hip hop laureate, comes to Whitman. He plays music from his 2007 release “None Shall Pass,” which includes traditional hip-hop, futuristic funk and laid-back rock riffs.

2008-2009

April 10, 2009
Marjane Satrapi, author and director of “Persepolis” which was the required reading for the class of 2012, speaks at Cordiner about how she came to write comics, her life and the power of language to divide.

YEARLY

February
The Vagina Monologues, put on by Voices of Planned Parenthood (VOX) and Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE), is one of the most dynamic performance ensembles. It is a collection of testimonials of women based on their fears, experiences and frustrations.