With a $25,000 budget, students and faculty members of the Supercluster have begun planning the a year of programming for the East Wheelock Cluster.
As part of the Dartmouth Experience program, begun this fall, the cluster received a generous programming budget to assist the program's goal of creating a "marriage of intellectual and social life at Dartmouth."
The cluster will be sponsoring a year-long speaker series around the theme "Issues and Ideas At the Turn of the Century." During the year, various speakers will be invited to lead discussion and workshops on political, social and economic issues.
As part of the series, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop will speak in Brace Commons about "The Doctor-Patient Relationship -- Keeping up with the Times."
Each term, three freshmen seminars will hold classes in the cluster, which will sponsor events such as film series and trips, connected to the curricula.
For example, freshmen taking English 7: Literature and Witchcraft, taught by Professor Walter Stephens, will travel to Salem, Mass., at the end of the month.
History and Women's Studies Professor Leo Spitzer and French and Comparative Literature Professor Marianne Hirsch, the cluster's faculty associates, will hold dinners throughout the year for small groups of students at their home adjacent to the cluster.
Spitzer said other faculty members will be invited to the events to mix with students.
Spitzer said the cluster "attempts to break down the sort of barriers that have existed in the past between student and faculty life."
The cluster will sponsor coffeehouses featuring the work of professional artists and writers as well as students.
During the year the cluster will show films, which will end with discussions led by faculty members.
Students living in the cluster said they are enthusiastic about the upcoming events.
"The stuff that they have planned sounds really good," Kelly Fender '00 said.
"I'm always interested in hearing new opinions," Nick Rogone '00 said.
