Proposal No. 5 

Peter Fraser

Class of 1968 50th Reunion Class Gift Concept Proposal

Endowed Lecture Series for Enriching Civic and Social Responsibility

The Concept

This proposal conceives of the creation of an Endowed Lecture Series for Enriching Civic and Social Responsibility[1]. The Endowment would provide funds with the objective of contributing to a deeper and more focused understanding by students and faculty of important civic, environmental, and social issues of the day. Lectures would dovetail with or meld into the academic, civic, and social responsibility programs of the College with the objective of supporting efforts to take a deeper look into relevant subjects. The Lecture Series would be open to both Academic Departments and other Programs, such as the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and the Aydelotte Foundation offered by the College and would support the formation and training of what might be termed action intellectuals. [2] The selection process for lecture topics and lecturers would be done through a student/faculty consultative process. Each lecture will have a written description of its topic and objectives that will be submitted to a student/faculty consultative body. Divergent academic, scientific, and political persuasions would be strongly encouraged to enable a broad examination of the social and political landscapes and realities that shape public policy, the dynamics of change, and the role action intellectuals might play in these processes.  It is conceived that outside lecturers contracted under the Endowed Lecture Series for Enriching Civic and Social Responsibility could, themselves, be action intellectuals and/or activists who have had important impacts.

Lecture topics, in addition to strictly academic treatment of topics of interest, could include instruction on and examples of conducting field/action research in given fields and would give students (and faculty, it might be added) the advantage of broadening and stimulating their thinking about how to take an intellectual/academic pursuit and turn it into a project, program, civic or social action. As stated previously, this opportunity would be made available to all Academic Departments, some of which typically may not have found openings to formally offer civic and social responsibility training in their course outlines. Another important possibility afforded by The Endowed Lecture Series would be that students and professors alike could be provided tools to study specific cases in their fields through highly targeted field work. This might involve summer field work and/or other action research to try out new approaches on a limited basis. Through field work and action research, the highly motivated and competent civic, academic, or social activist might be drawn out of at least some of the students to pursue highly creative and significant professional impact upon leaving Swarthmore.

Illustrative Lecture Topics

• Bridging the gap between knowledge, action and impact;
• Climate change and its effect on conflict, war, and peace; and,
• Social entrepreneurship and creating sustained impacts.

Practicality and Flexibility

The Endowed Lecture Series would provide flexibility to on-going College academic courses or programs, such as the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility or the Aydelotte Foundation, in scheduling outside speakers when clear funding from other sources is not available.  There may be cases where the College would find it very useful to have this kind of flexible resource available to academic departments and programs enabling them to address topics under their purviews that would enrich and deepen the experience at Swarthmore. The funding process would also be practical, efficient, and would be designed to have the capability of bringing lecturers to the College with very short lead times depending on their availabilities.

Accountability

The Endowed Lecture Series would be funded through an endowment that would be created by the Class of 1968 and the College. It would be the principal conduit for funding the lectures described in the Concept above. The fund would also be authorized in the endowment agreement with the Class to receive injections of funds from other sources as the conduit of funding for lectures with the objectives of the Endowment. The endowment fund would be a free-standing entity at Swarthmore with the requisite financial and accountability requirements established in the agreement. An Annual Financial Report would be provided to College Endowment Administrators and our Class of 1968 appointed agents covering current fund level, income, lecture project drawdowns, other expenses, and a brief statement describing how the endowment funds were used to fulfill the objectives of the endowment.

Assessment of Results

Based on the lecture description and objectives provided for each funded lecture that would be submitted prior to funding, a post-lecture project assessment would be conducted to review whether the project, that includes the lecture and any post-lecture activities, met its objectives. These assessments are not to be construed as impact evaluations. They are meant to be brief descriptions of what happened as part of the effort to require accountability. Impact Evaluations could be conducted, but they would be outside the purview of the Endowed Lecture Series.

The post-lecture assessment reports will be included in an addendum to the Annual Financial Report. College Endowment Administrators, our Class of 1968 appointed agents, and the various other parties responsible for the conduct of each lecture series project, will be the recipients of these reports.

Proposal Advantages – Why it makes sense for the Class of 1968 to support the establishment of an Endowed Lecture Series for Enriching Civic and Social Responsibility

1. The endowment model offers the potential for our gift to have a sustained impact over time on the quality and values provided by a Swarthmore liberal arts education. It would assure that our Class Gift remains relevant indefinitely as part of Swarthmore's broader emphasis on civic and social responsibility and provides another tool for enhancing a vibrant liberal arts education. It will require a commitment by our Class to the basic concept that we are a class that supports a sustained impact on the quality and values of Swarthmore and that we would aspire to be at least a part of that legacy over an indefinite period.
2. The proposed concept reflects the concerns of our class about assuring the potential of hearing different perspectives on a wide variety of academic, civic, political, and social issues. But, in the end, this will be determined by the student/faculty consultative process, which, in itself, reflects a Quakerly approach and our founding roots. It offers the opportunity to open the doors to deeper exploration of the great issues of the day by students, faculty, and all interested parties that form part of the Swarthmore College community, as well as a platform from which to move academic thinking/learning to actions on the ground where the impact on students and the people they work with could be felt. This reflects the ideal of creating action intellectuals - a concept that was a big part of the proposer’s early career in micro-enterprise development and microfinance.
3. The proposed concept is practical, flexible, and accountable.  These points are mentioned in the body of the proposal. Proposals do well to describe some of the basic operational and implementation factors implied by a proposal. This proposal is implementable and it will be relatively easy to determine whether the endowment’s objectives have been met.