{"id":110,"featured":0,"modified":"2025-06-02 21:58:21","latitude":30.6344676684228858221104019321501255035400390625,"longitude":-97.6645649266082500616903416812419891357421875,"title":"Remembering Student Perspectives on Brown Symposium","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/87079109223a29878b679a23a8210ee1.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Abrianna Morales ‘25"],"description":"Since it was established in 1977, the primary goal of Brown Symposium has been to provoke thoughtful discussion and awareness of contemporary issues by bringing prominent national and international scholars and artists to Southwestern to provide lectures and arts programming focused on a particular topic. The symposium isn’t just about lectures; it’s about engaging with new ideas and pushing conversations into unexplored territory. The event has made significant contributions to the cultural climate on campus and has helped raise the national reputation of Southwestern, but has not always been central to students’ lives.
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\r\nBrown Symposium is funded by an endowment from the Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, Texas. For its first twenty years, it was an annual event held in the spring. Not long after the Brown Foundation also funded the Roy and Margaret Shilling Lecture Series in 1999, Brown Symposium became an biennial event, alternating years between Brown Symposium and the Shilling Lecture.
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\r\nOne of the unique features of Brown Symposium is its accessibility. With an endowment of nearly $6 million, it gives students and faculty at Southwestern access to some of the world’s top scholars and performers–completely free of charge. Unlike typical academic conferences, which can be cost-prohibitive and exclusive, this event is open to everyone, offering a chance to be part of a broader intellectual experience.
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\r\nAnother distinctive thing about the symposium is that it always features some sort of visual and/or performing arts component in addition to lectures. Finally, while traditionally Brown Symposia were organized by one of the Brown Endowed Chair holders at a time, the current model pairs Brown Chairs together, modeling the interdisciplinary principle of Paidiea even in the way the theme is designed from the beginning.
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\r\nOver the years, topics covered by the symposium have been wide-ranging. The first symposium in 1978 explored "Cosmology: The Changing Philosophies of Science." A brief list of some of the symposia titles gives a sense of the range: "Performance & Ritual" (1983); "Gods, Giants, & Monkeys" (1989); "The Human Genome Project" (1998); "Spiritualities of Resistance" (2003); "Sex Talk: A Symposium with Benefits" (2013); and "Art & Revolution" (2017). This coming year, the 2025 symposium will dive into "Visualizing the Abstract," continuing the tradition of exploring timely and complex topics.
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\r\nThe 1986 “Womanhood, Manhood, and Public Life” Brown Symposium was particularly notable for a number of reasons that reveal the complex legacy of the Symposium’s role among Southwestern students. First, it dealt with important second-wave feminist issues facing the whole country in the 1980s while also being anchored to a detailed investigation into the leagcy of first-wave feminist Jessie Daniel Ames, a Southwestern alumna and early 20th-century businesswoman from Georgetown, Texas. Ames was not only an advocate for women’s rights as a suffragist but also a founder of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching. This connection between the global and the local is a hallmark not only of feminist thought but also of the ideals of the Brown Symposium as a Southwestern tradition.
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\r\nBut the 1986 Symposium should also be remembered in terms of the way students reacted to the topic at the time. Student resistance to the topic emerged the semester before, when it was the theme of the first-ever Freshman Symposium. Freshman Symposium was the precursor to the current First-Year Seminar and Advanced Entry Seminar (FYS/AES) program (in between, it was called the First-Year Colloquium). Like FYS/AES, it was designed to provide a common social and intellectual experience for incoming students, and featured small discussion groups led by an interdisciplinary team of faculty, but unlike FYS/AES, everyone studied the same topic, read the same readings, attended the same lectures, and did the same assignments.
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\r\nIn the fall of 1985, Southwestern's first-ever Freshman Symposium sparked strong resistance among students, with upper-class students left questioning why the program seemed so unpopular. Inspired by Brown Symposium, the course aimed to introduce freshmen to college life, foster analytical skills, and build community. Freshman Symposium was designed to emphasize Southwestern’s distinct academic culture.
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\r\nHowever, the inaugural theme, “Womanhood and Manhood in Public Life,” quickly faced criticism. Students found the lectures repetitive and lacked engaging structure, and many reported divisions along gender lines in classes, with men’s attendance dropping as they resisted having their patriarchal privilege questioned. Additionally, the mandatory 8 a.m. timing was unpopular, and confusion over the program’s goals fueled frustration among students and faculty alike, as faculty were being asked to manage contentious discussions about issues few of them were prepared to navigate. As planning began for a 1986 Freshman Symposium on technology, expectations were high for improvements based on lessons from the program's rocky start.
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\r\nMore generally, despite its impressive origins and goals, Brown Symposium has not been as embraced by students as its organizers have hoped. During its first decade in the 1980s, the Symposium was known as the "Brown Break" among students, when it was often viewed by students as a two-day vacation before midterms rather than a chance for meaningful intellectual engagement. Back then, the whole University suspended classes during Brown Symposium to allow faculty, students, and staff to attend the event.
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\r\nThis disconnect between the symposium’s ambitious purpose and its perception by students suggests that while significant resources were invested in the event, it hasn’t always resonated with students in the way it was intended to. One adjustment to this is that since the early 2000s, the Symposium has occurred alongside regular classes, but is now considered a “Priority One Event”: one where students are encouraged but not required to attend and where no student can be penalized for attending the Symposium instead of class.
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\r\nBrown Symposium’s legacy is complicated—both a prestigious intellectual event and a misunderstood campus tradition. While the symposium has struggled to shake off its "Brown Break" reputation, its significance should not be overlooked. It offers a unique opportunity for Southwestern students to engage in lifelong learning experiences that go beyond the classroom and reflect on global challenges. Brown Symposium pushes participants to think deeply, not just about the topics presented, but about their role in the world as critical thinkers. It provides a chance to wrestle with ideas, challenge assumptions, and explore perspectives they might not otherwise encounter.
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\r\nAs we reflect on its past, it’s worth considering how we can reimagine its future. How might it be made more relevant to students today? How can it move beyond its "break" identity to become something students and faculty alike look forward to for its depth rather than its timing? Ultimately, Brown Symposium continues to offer a space for critical reflection on important issues. Perhaps it’s time to refocus its legacy and build stronger ties between the symposium’s scholarly goals and the student body’s evolving interests.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":[],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/87079109223a29878b679a23a8210ee1.jpg":{"id":620,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Collage of the first 15 Brown Symposium flyers","description":"Detail from a photo of a PopUp Exhibit on the Brown Symposium in the foyer of Smith Library Center, May 2025 | creator | 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/87079109223a29878b679a23a8210ee1.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/a840e9d2860075cc96dc7f1827db5cd5.jpg":{"id":520,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The 10th annual Brown symposium in 1988 centered on Africa and the Afro-American experience. Speakers left to right: Ivan Van Sertima, Paula Giddings, and Donald Johanson, with Southwestern History Professor Weldon Crowley standing behind the chair.","description":"Sou'wester Yearbook 1988 | 1988 | unknown","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/a840e9d2860075cc96dc7f1827db5cd5.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/0fcf825c74e05b362cc2e899c796f43e.jpg":{"id":519,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Publicity for the 1986 Brown Symposium","description":"SU Distinctive Collections & Archives | 1986 | unknown","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/0fcf825c74e05b362cc2e899c796f43e.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/8a8c2d8e9c768e258f1495f8a6101f74.jpg":{"id":522,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Gwen Kennedy Neville, organizer of the 5th Brown Symposium in 1983, with the chosen subject of “Performance and Ritual”.","description":"Sou'wester Yearbook 1983 | 1983 | unknown","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/8a8c2d8e9c768e258f1495f8a6101f74.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/5389df397ee0b7c7ea61c36c1decf0d8.jpg":{"id":524,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Cyndi Merril gets an autograph from Alex Haley at the 1988 Brown Symposium","description":"Sou'wester Yearbook | 1988 | unknown","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/5389df397ee0b7c7ea61c36c1decf0d8.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/7f3de78ed80616cb53e3329d0fb53586.jpg":{"id":525,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"In 1996, SU students gave their opinion on what they thought was a good topic for the Brown Symposium in the Megaphone, a news article for SU students.","description":"Megaphone 1996 | 1996 | Gordon Winner","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/7f3de78ed80616cb53e3329d0fb53586.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/a30be6a9cafcd9572cf8a941585ad329.jpg":{"id":619,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Photo of a PopUp Exhibit on the Brown Symposium in the Foyer of Smith Library Center, May 2025","description":"creator | 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/a30be6a9cafcd9572cf8a941585ad329.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/186e8d6d3474bd38e5648caa25cb878f.jpg":{"id":621,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Collage of Brown Symposium Flyers","description":"Detail from a photo of a PopUp Exhibit on the Brown Symposium in the foyer of Smith Library Center, May 2025 | creator | 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/186e8d6d3474bd38e5648caa25cb878f.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/2150c30f3e6fd35002b7492ad1d4fdd7.jpg":{"id":622,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Collage of Brown Symposium Flyers","description":"Detail from a photo of a PopUp Exhibit on the Brown Symposium in the foyer of Smith Library Center, May 2025 | creator | 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/2150c30f3e6fd35002b7492ad1d4fdd7.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/dbf1eb68deb82be0c9a06b085c01d5ca.jpg":{"id":623,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Collage of the most recent Brown Symposium flyers","description":"Detail from a photo of a PopUp Exhibit on the Brown Symposium in the foyer of Smith Library Center, May 2025 | creator | 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/dbf1eb68deb82be0c9a06b085c01d5ca.jpg"}}}