By Rachel Morse, Staff Writer
Michael Sandel
The university’s Distinguished Speaker Series is continuing to expose students and the community to the great minds of today.
Michael J. Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University, will visit the campus at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 29 in Petree Recital Hall in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center, for a lecture that is free and open to the public.
He will discuss justice, morality and what is really the right thing to do, said Harbour Winn, director of the center for interpersonal studies through film and literature.
“Sandel is absolutely magnificent,” he said. “It is just amazing what he is able to do.”
Sandel’s accomplishments include teaching political philosophy since the 1980s, instructing more than 15,000 undergraduate students in his course on justice, and writing books on justice and morality—including his most recent work “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” according to Winn and Sandel’s online Harvard biography.
Sandel’s course is regarded as one of the most popular classes at Harvard, Winn said.
He has received numerous awards and titles, read his online Harvard biography.
He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he received his doctorate.
Harvard awarded Sandel the Harvard-Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize in 1985 and named him a Harvard College Professor in 1999.
His main session will focus specifically on justice and what it means, Winn said.
There also will be an informal student session with Sandel at 4 p.m. Feb. 29 in Petree Recital Hall in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.
Sandel will use the Socratic Method style of teaching during the main session, which involves conversing with students about the topics, Winn said.
“He teaches inductively through discussion,” he said.
Sandel is a lecturer who appeals to students and the community, said Philip Busey Jr., graduate student representative for the distinguished speaker series.
Having a guest who is relevant to everyone is one of the main goals of the distinguished speaker committee.
“It’s a good draw for OCU because it brings people who normally wouldn’t come on campus,” he said.
Sandel will fulfill one of the main purposes of the series, which is to broaden people’s perspectives on life, Busey said.
“It can open up your minds in ways you never thought before,” he said.
The series is receiving communitywide support and is meeting its goal of one guest speaker per semester, Winn said.
This offers students the opportunity to hear around eight guest speakers in their college career.
“We try to have people that represent different perspectives and disciplines,” he said.
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