Speaker series slated for Dundee-Crown

By now, students at Dundee-Crown High School should be used to questioning and being challenged by leading intellectuals and writers.

During the past two years, the Carpentersville high school has held talks with renowned thinkers such as linguist Noam Chomsky, historian Howard Zinn and philosopher Peter Singer.

This spring, Dundee-Crown is continuing the tradition with a series of speakers that includes a frequent contributor to televisions's "Nova," the man who called attention to sweatshop abuses in Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line and two policy experts from a leading libertarian think tank.

"I'm trying to get representatives from different fields that are regarded as the top names in those fields and bring them to the students so they can converse with the minds behind the most groundbreaking stuff we have currently," said Bruce Taylor, the social students teacher who organized the previous and upcoming discussions.

In assembling the latest roster of speakers, Taylor has striven for ideological diversity to balance the vocal liberalism of thinkers like Chomsky and Zinn. Taylor also arranged a talk with conservative historian Larry Schweikart last school year.

"I've always tried to push for that diversity," Taylor said. "That allows the students the freedom to formulate their own ideas because they're getting both sides of that spectrum."

Taylor hopes the spring series of speakers, which like the previous talks are open to the public, will attract more interest from both students and residents in surrounding community.

The speakers are:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson, 3 p.m. April 27. Tyson is an astronomer who dedicates much of this time to educating the public on his field, including numerous appearances on PBS and The History Channel.

• Bill Niskanen, 3 p.m. May 4. Niskanen is a senior economist and former chairman at the Cato Institute. He has also served on President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers and is a recognized expert on the federal budget, regulation, taxes and trade.

• Mark Calabria, 3 p.m. May 5. Calabria studies financial regulation at the Cato Institute and previously served on the staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

• Noam Chomsky, 3:15 p.m. May 11. Chomsky is regarded as the father of modern linguistics and is one of the most-cited scholars of his time. He is also known for his scathing works on American foreign policy and the mainstream media.

• Charles Kernaghan, 3:15 p.m. May 18. Kernaghan is the director of the National Labor Committee. He is known for exposing sweatshop conditions in the garment factories that produced Kathie Lee Gifford's line of clothing as well as pushing for independent monitoring of the shops that produce clothing for The Gap.

All of the talks will be conducted by telephone or video conference and will be held in Dundee-Crown's music wing. E-mail bruce.taylor@d300.org with questions.