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Rhetoric What we Study Courses Minor and Majors Faculty Contests Forensics |
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Ross Richendrfer and Matt
Schissler were Rhetoric Honors majors. Ross wrote his thesis on the use of
Foucault’s confessional in The Catcher and the Rye. Matt wrote his thesis on
contemporary offensive humor such as Sarah Silverman, South Park, and Carlos Mencia. Together, the two worked on a
Perry Scholarship with Jim Hanson examining the First Amendment and Fighting
Words, words that provoke violence, threaten, and inflict injury that led to
the publication of an article in the journal Free Speech Yearbook. |
Rhetoric
is Important to the Liberal Arts Whitman's Rhetoric Studies department is an
essential part of the liberal arts mission of the College. Our Mission
Statement suggests that liberal education seeks to help "students
develop capacities to analyze, interpret, criticize, communicate, and engage"
(Whitman College Catalog, p. 4). Important, if not central, to these
capacities is the ability of our students to analyze the messages with which
they come into contact every day and to respond with effective, clear and
thoughtful communication. The study of rhetoric, nearly continuous over 2500
years, has always been central to the objectives of a liberal arts
curriculum; indeed, it is one of the founding 7 aspects of liberal arts.
Extending that study to contemporary media, protests, e-mail, and all forms
of discourse has advanced our study into the 21st century. The philosophies of both the College and the
Rhetoric Studies Department’s objectives are quite consistent. The use of
communication in speech, writing, and media is a unique characteristic of humans
as symbol using beings. Rhetoric is the dynamic by which all of the important
institutions of our society operate; public address is used to debate public
policy and to resolve problems we face every day; and it is through
communication that humans come to know and understand their world. In short, we seek to offer students a deep
understanding of a central aspect of the entire liberal arts curriculum: the
use of communication in speech, writing, and all forms of rhetoric. Goals
for your study in Rhetoric |
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345 Boyer Ave. |
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