Abby Taylor
Assistant News Editor
Students and faculty members gathered Wednesday in the Rinhart Auditorium at the second session of the “Let’s Talk” series to question professors on controversial topics, following the interfaith symposium.
The attending students were able to pose challenging questions regarding income inequality and economic justice, gender and sexuality and environmental justice to a panel of faculty from across several disciplines.
The discussion began with a question posed on income inequality and economic justice.
Panelist Christopher Bradley, associate social psychology professor, was the first to answer and used his experience in sociology to discuss income inequality and how it impacts us. The members of the panel discussed monopolies in the economy and the impact of money on people.
Other questions posed included how feminism is impacted by masculinity, issues of women in a developing world, women’s reproductive rights and the government’s say on the use of recreational drugs.
“Nothing is more dangerous than when a politician… starts telling you how to live your life,” Bradley said during the panel in regard to the topic of women’s reproductive rights.
Bradley said he encourages students to continue talking about the issues presented at the panel.
“What students should take away from this event is an appreciation for and an awareness of the need to keep talking,” he said. “More than anything else we should talk with each other and we should talk about these issues deep in the night, we should talk about these issues with passion and commitment.
“Because as long as we keep the dialogue going, we’ll keep making forward progress and that’s what’s most important in life.”
Patricia Waters, assistant english professor, and a panelist at the event said she hoped students took away self-empowerment from the discussion.
“I hope they (students) took away that they understand that they have the capacity to change the world through their own actions and their own engagement,” she said.
Olivia Nobles, a senior English major from Millbrook said more of these conversations would be beneficial for Troy students.
“There’s a severe lack of understanding of these topics that we’ve discussed in the Troy community,” she said. “This sort of talk is sorely needed.”
Leandro Froes, a first-year master’s student studying international relations from Brazil said he learned some about gender equality and how that relates to the economy.
“I thought it (panel) was going to be more towards the question of, for example, LGBT community and all that, but they didn’t refer anything to that,” Froes said.
Olivia Nobles, a senior English major from Millbrook said more of these conversations would be good for Troy students.
“There’s a severe lack of understanding of these topics that we’ve discussed in the Troy community,” she said. “This sort of talk is sorely needed.”
Next semester, the “Let’s Talk” series will continue to address ongoing issues in the world.