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The Communitarian Update
Number 12
December 4, 1998
Communitarian Summit News
The band has now been hired for the Saturday Night Gala on February 27, 1999. The
evening will feature Stephen Carter and (we anticipate) Vice President Gore, dinner,
and the music of the Machaya Klezmer Band. Cost is $40, reserve your space when you
register for the Summit. A simple registration form is now available via e-mail, just
send a request to comnet@gwu.edu, or call 1-800-245-7460.
More Speakers Confirmed. Internationally renowned theologian Thandeka; Sociologist
Philip Selznick; Hans Joas of Freie Universitaet Berlin; Noted political theorist
Nancy Rosenblum; and psychologist Tom Tyler have all confirmed that they will be
among the one hundred top scholars and policy makers who will address the Communitarian
Summit on February 27-28, 1999. For full details, see our website, http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps.
AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: DON'T FORGET THAT DECEMBER 15 IS THE LAST DAY OF EARLY REGISTRATION!
AFTER THAT DATE THE REGISTRATION FEE WILL INCREASE TO $120.
New Publications
New Position Paper. In "Community and the Corner Store," Alan Ehrenhalt examines significant
changes in commercial and cultural life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He explores the benefits
of 1990s economy as well as the cultural sacrifices which the new economic structure entails:
"erosion of custom, of predictability, of patterns of conduct that [are] known...as community."
The paper is available on our website under the Publications Catalogue.
Spreading Communitarian Ideas. Current magazine recently featured an article by William
Galston entitled "Policies for the 21st Century: Reexamining the Idea of Community". The
article, which originally appeared in the Summer 1998 issue of The Responsive Community,
can be found in the October 1998 issue of Current.
Communitarians in Germany
Kommunitarienetz was founded in connection with a conference of sociologists held at
Freiburg in September. Presently, 150 scholars, political leaders, journalists and
educators have shown active interest in participating in this European outpost for
communitarian theory and practice. Founder Hans Nuebel is a theologian who teaches
social ethics. They can be found at http://members.aol.com/dekomnetz/basis.html.
Other Community Groups
Do Something's Kindness and Justice Challenge. Every school in the country is invited to
incorporate a special 15 minute lesson each day on the virtues of kindness and justice
for the two weeks from 1/18-29/99. Students will be encouraged to perform acts of kindness
and justice, and schools will report to Do Something. Educators will receive a special
curriculum by registering at http://www.dosomething.org. The Communitarian Network is
proud to be a partner in this endeavor.
Moral Education in a Diverse Society, a national conference by The Kenan Ethics Program
at Duke, will be held 4/9-11/99 in Durham, NC. Themes include Ethics Across the Curriculum,
Ethics and Civic Responsibility, and Ethics in the Face of Disagreement. Deadline for
proposals is 12/18. For more information visit http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu, or call
1-800-210-8756.
For more information on any of the items above, please contact us by phone at 1.800.245.7460
or 202.994.7997; by fax at 202.994.1606; or by email at comnet@gwu.edu.
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