COLLEGIUM WINTER SESSION 2016
WESTCHESTER
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
State University of New York
Knollwood Center
75 Grasslands Road
Valhalla, New York
10595-1698
914-606-6748
________________________
COLLEGIUM BOARD
David Oestreich, Chair
Clare Ahern, Vice Chair
Claire Copen, Secretary
Jack Sexer, Treasurer
Lorain Levy, Curriculum Chair
Iris Cook
Marcia Gellert
Arthur Goldstein
Edward Pressman
Richard Rose
Jack McLaughlin (Honorary)
COLLEGIUM ADVISORY BOARD
Nadia Bernstein
Edith Landau Litt (Founder)
Harry Phillips III
Myrna Silverman, Ellen Kenny,
Brochure Editors
Gabrielle Fox, Ann Rubenzahl,
College Liaisons
Special Advisors for the College
Dr. Belinda S. Miles, President
Teresita Wisell, Vice President and
Dean, Continuing Education and
Workforce Development
Eve Larner, Vice President and Dean,
External Affairs
COLLEGIUM has been honored
with the Volunteer New York!
2014 Volunteer Spirit Award
in the category of Education
and Literacy.
Seeking knowledge, deepening understanding and enriching our lives
are year-round activities at Collegium. As crisp autumn implacably slides
into cold winter, Collegium members still bask in the satisfaction of an
excellent fall semester, resisting any impulse to turn inward and
hibernate. Instead, we look forward to the excitement and camaraderie of
our 2016 Winter Session, when four outstanding volunteer course
leaders again share their passion, proficiency and enthusiasm. Starting
in January, we will gather on four Wednesday mornings to ponder our
place in the evolving universe, explore the depths of landmark legal
cases, reconsider the life and impact of powerful urban planner Robert
Moses, and tackle the towering literature of Dostoevsky. Continue the
cycle of learning; connect with colleagues and commit to four mornings
that guarantee you immeasurable rewards!
Join us on four Wednesdays:
January 13, 20, 27 and February 3 (snow date: February 10).
All classes will be held in the Knollwood Center
9:30 am – 11:00 am
Robert Moses’ New York
Leader: Charles Farrell, former high school administrator and social
studies teacher, contractor/builder, lifelong history buff and lover of
Jones Beach
If you have lived, worked or played in and around New York City, you
have seen the work of Robert Moses. This legendary public servant
spearheaded projects as diverse as Jones Beach, the Triborough Bridge
(renamed the RFK Bridge), the Cross Bronx Expressway and the 1963
World’s Fair. His career spanned 50 years; he outlasted six mayors, six
governors and four presidents, yet never sat for an election. His blend of
captivating personality, shrewd mind and tough tactics enabled him to
become the most powerful man in New York, spending billions of
taxpayer dollars on what some called the most destructive municipal
construction projects of the 20th century, but which all acknowledge
changed New York City forever. Using excerpts from Robert Caro’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, The Power Broker, as a guide, the
class will explore the man, his motivation and vision, his place in history,
and his legacy for New Yorkers. Members should obtain a copy of The
Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
(Vintage paperback, 1975). Note: This course is a modified, four-week
version of the six-session class offered in Fall 2014.
9:30 am – 11:00 am (continued)
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
Leader: James Werner, PhD, WCC professor and English Department chairperson
Dostoevsky’s powerful novels grapple with deep political, social and religious issues, while delving
into the often tortured psychology of characters whose lives are shaped by these issues. In this course,
we will examine Crime and Punishment, one of Dostoevsky’s greatest novels. The unforgettable
Raskolnikov, Sonia, Dunya and Razumikhin will guide us as we explore themes including the
psychology of crime and the conflicts between rational egoism and free will, suffering and redemption,
and reason versus faith. Examining Dostoevsky’s life and his own personal shift in political thinking will
help us to understand his characters and their behavior. Finally, we will discuss the critics’ reception of
his work, as well as his influence on writers and philosophers more than a century after his death. We
will use the text Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoevsky (Norton Critical Editions Series, 3rd
edition, George Gibian, editor). Any translation by Richard Pevear may be substituted.
11:15 am – 12:45 pm
Crime and the Law: Four Landmark Criminal Cases
Leader: Henry S. Dogin, LLB, former prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer and U.S. immigration judge
Americans are fascinated with infamous figures, their lives, crimes, trials and punishment. This
semester we will dig deeply into four of our most famous criminal trials. Aaron Burr, a founding father,
political leader and vice-president of the United States, was tried for treason. Roland Molineux, a
society figure in the Gilded Age of New York City, was convicted of a murder due to sending poison
through the mail. After being denied counsel, Clarence Earl Gideon was convicted of burglary;
he demanded that the United States Supreme Court provide an attorney for him and any indigent
American. Acting without a warrant, the police broke into the home of Dollree Mapp and conducted an
illegal search and seizure. When she was convicted of possessing pornography, Dollree’s lawyers took
their challenge of police conduct to the United States Supreme Court. These four individuals’ stories
are as fascinating as the legal precedents their cases ultimately established.
Emergence and the Evolving “Becoming” Universe
Leader: Robert Callender, PhD, professor of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
professor emeritus of Physics, City University of New York
Evolution. Emergence theory. Human consciousness. Developmental singularity. Confused by these
terms and the big ideas behind them? Join us for a series of discussions about the evolutionary history
of the universe. We will focus on emergence, a process whereby new entities and patterns not
previously present appear in successive stages of evolution. We’ll discuss examples of emergence,
particularly in the rise of consciousness with human life, and we’ll reflect on our current unparalleled
developmental period, one that is testing the spiritual and intellectual capacities of humans. Finally,
we’ll look at how the observation of emergence and its underlying physics has influenced the
theologian, philosopher, physicist and biologist.