<p>Looks like coverage of Rebecca Chopp’s inauguration this weekend is cranking up.</p>
<p>A story in the Philly Inquirer newspaper:</p>
<p>[Swarthmore</a> inauguration a friendly, Motown affair | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/07/2010](<a href=“http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20100507_Swarthmore_inauguration_a_friendly__Motown_affair.html]Swarthmore ”>Swarthmore inauguration a friendly, Motown affair )</p>
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Swarthmore inauguration a friendly, Motown affair </p>
<p>Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” will blare on Saturday where one might hardly expect it: at the inauguration of Swarthmore College’s first female president - who also is an ordained minister and religious scholar.</p>
<p>While inaugurations tend to be serious affairs, with gown-and-cap-clad academics filing in, Rebecca Chopp - known for mixing academics and fun - will have a recessional of her “Motown medley” favorites.
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<p>A TV interview in Philadelphia:</p>
<p>[Swarthmore</a> College | News | President Rebecca Chopp Talks Swarthmore Values, History, Goals](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/x29720.xml]Swarthmore ”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/x29720.xml )</p>
<p>And, a profile in the Daily Gazette:</p>
<p>[Profile</a> on Rebecca Chopp :: The Daily Gazette](<a href=“daily.swarthmore.edu domain has changed ”>daily.swarthmore.edu domain has changed )</p>
<p>The inauguration is being webcast. I’m really looking forward to this panel discussion:</p>
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Panel 1: Reimagining Civil Discourse </p>
<p>American political and civic discourse has become more and more rancorous. The divisions among people, parties, and ideologies have seemingly thrown up barriers against respectful listening, seeking common ground, respect for persons, and the ability even to agree to disagree. How should we reimagine our polity and the arenas in which civil discourse might take place with the result that the barriers fall and the great chasms of anger and disrespect are bridged? What role should liberal arts education and the leaders it produces play in shaping a new reality?</p>
<p>**Christopher Edley '73 **is dean and professor of law at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley School of Law Boalt Hall. Prior to that, he served as a professor at Harvard Law School. His academic work is primarily in the areas of civil rights and administrative law. Edley was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project. His publications include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race and American Values, and Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy. He holds a B.A. with high honors in mathematics from Swarthmore and a J.D. and Ph.D. in public administration from Harvard University.</p>
<p>**Andrew Perrin '93 **is associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina. His research interests focus on democratic citizenship in the United Statesthe cultural and social underpinnings of democracy: what do people need to know, be, and do to make democracy work? He is the author of Citizen Speak: The Democratic Imagination in American Life (University of Chicago Press, 2006). He holds a B.A. with highest honors in sociology and anthropology from Swarthmore and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of CaliforniaBerkeley.</p>
<p>**William Saletan '87 **is Slate magazine’s national correspondent. He writes about science, technology, politics, and society. He is the author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War (2004), which argues that pro-choice and pro-life activists have lost the abortion debate to a third constituency: libertarian conservatives. He holds a B.A. with highest honors in philosophy from Swarthmore.
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<p>Edley is a real star. A confident of the President. Saletan is a Republican columnist/commnetator who has written on topics that would be very controversial at Swarthmore and who specializes in the “framing” of political discourse. This could be a very interesting and relevant discussion.</p>