Brady Program in Ethics and Civic Life
It was an exciting year of transition for the Brady Program in Ethics and Civic life, as we welcomed our new director, Kyla Ebels-Duggan, along with two new Brady Postdoctoral Fellows, Rowan Mellor and Elizabeth Southgate. Rowan completed his doctoral degree at University College London, and comes to us via the University of Toronto, where he held a prior fellowship last year. Libby’s doctoral degree is from Cornell University. Both brought new energy and philosophical expertise to the program.
Brady sophomores did excellent work in the three-course seminar sequence, kicking off in the fall with Kyla’s course, The Moral Life. The course examined consequentialist and non-consequentialist approaches to beneficence, obligations to friends and family, promises, and dealing with evil. Libby picked things up in the winter with The Good Life, with a syllabus organized around ethical issues associated with various life stages, including whether it is good for us to come into existence, the nature of childhood, the meaning of work, and the significance of death. In the spring, Rowan’s seminar on the Good Society combined discussion of theoretical and applied issues in political philosophy, including questions concerning policing and the pros and cons of integrating assemblies of randomly selected citizens into the legislative process. At the same time, they were getting to know the City of Evanston, with a civic engagement project getting them out to locations around town over the fall and winter quarters.
Meanwhile our seniors executed their capstone project, addressing issues of housing insecurity in partnership with Connections for the Homeless and Good News Partners. Seniors volunteered for both organizations over the course of the year and launched a student group at NU focusing on issues of homelessness. We hope that the group will endure for many years to come, providing a way for Northwestern students to connect with the local community.
In the spring, we welcomed out juniors back from their studies abroad and sent our sophomores out into the world. Next year, this junior class will engage in a senior project addressing the needs of children who have experienced trauma. The sophomore class this year determined to address the fifth ward food desert. Working together with Clarence and Wendy Weaver, of C&W Market and Ice Cream Parlor, they hope to support the launch of a full-scale grocery store in their senior year.