News Coverage of The American Culture Program
Editor's Note: On Friday, April 11, 2008, the American Culture Program
received nationwide news coverage for taking a one-hour tour of a legal
brothel in Nevada. The tour was a part of a weeklong seminar trip focused
on American consumerism. Sensationalized news reports of the
event removed it from the context of the semester-long academic
program. Dean of the College William Coulter addresses the issue here.
Dear Community,
Today’s media coverage of students in Randolph’s American Culture
Program visiting a brothel near Las Vegas has gotten national attention. It offers
an opportunity to put the visit into context and to describe the Program’s
focus.
The American Culture Program is a semester-long program that combines classroom
lecture and discussion with a series of guest speakers and trips in order to
interpret America's history, politics, literature, music, and art. The Program’s
theme for this semester is “America Consumed.” It looks at things
that we consume—such as food, energy, land, water—and things that
consume us and our imaginations—like images of beauty, creating the perfect
wedding, addictions, religion.
Students in the Program this semester have traveled to West Virginia and the
southwest corner of Virginia, where they visited a site of mountaintop removal
coal mining, toured a coal-fired power plant, and talked with local activists
who are trying to stop waste from being dumped along their river. The students
have also visited Washington, DC, where they talked to the property manager
at Tysons Corner, met with lobbyists who work on higher education and energy
issues, visited the Museum of the American Indian, and explored the National
Cathedral. In Las Vegas, the Program is looking at development issues, water
rights, sex trafficking, gambling, tourism, and more.
I encourage you to read the Program’s syllabus below and to visit Randolph’s
web page at http://www.randolphcollege.edu/americanculture/ to
learn more about the program. It is far more than a visit to a brothel that
has been sensationalized by the press.
William Coulter,
Dean of the College
Course Syllabus - AmCP 2008: America Consumed
Week 1 – January 14-18
Environment/Approach to the land
- Seminar: Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of America
- Images: William Cronon , Changes in the Land
- Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind – Ch. 2
- Voices: Casey Clabough, author of The Warrior’s Path: Reflections
Along an Ancient Route
Week 2 – January 21-25
Food
- Seminar: Michael Pollan, Omnivore’s Dilemma
- Images: Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
- Voices: Rie Godsey, owner of Meriwether’s and Isabella’s
Week 3 – January 28-February 1
Land Use/Natural Resources
- Seminar: Bobby Ann Mason, Missing Mountain
- Images: Rolling Stone article re: coal and/or articles on miners
getting trapped
- DVD: Harlan County USA
- Voices: Randy Vaughan, architect from Wiley and Wilson
Week 4 – February 4-8
Suburban Sprawl
- Seminar: Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation
- Images: Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic – suburb
chapter
- Andres Duany, Suburban Nation – sections of DVD: The
End of Suburbia
- Voices: Visit to Bedford Ave. Food Lion and Boonsboro Kroger to compare/contrast
TRIP 1 – February 8-10 – Southwest Virginia
Weeks 5 and 6 – February 11-22
Consumption – Where and How We Consume
- Seminar: Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt
- Images: Paco Underhill, Call of the Mall
- Anya Kamenetz, Generation Debt
- Voices: Michael Gillette, City Council Representative
Week 7 – February 25-29
Advertising
- Seminar: James B. Twitchell, AdCult
- Images: Tom Reichert, The Erotic History of Advertising
- DVD: Killing Us Softly
- Voices: Mark Sisson of Sisson Creative
Week 8 – March 10-14
Beauty
- Seminar: Naomi Wolf: The Beauty Myth
- Images: Debra Grimlin, Body Work: Beauty and Self Image in American Culture
- Voices: Stylists from Sedona Salon
TRIP 2 – March 13-16 – Washington , D.C.
Week 9 – March 17-21
The Wedding Industry
- Seminar: Rebecca Mead, One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding
- Images: Etiquette books
- Web sites (theknot.com, indiebrides.com, etc), magazines, TV shows
- Voices: Angie Davis at Celebration Bridal downtown
Week 10 – March 24-28
Vice
- Seminar: William L. Fox, In the Desert of Desire: Las Vegas and the
Culture of Spectacle
- Images: Ben Mezrich, Bringing Down the House
- Kathryn Hausbeck, Who Puts the Sin in Sin City Stories?
- Voices: Lt. Smith of Lynchburg Police Dept.
Week 11 – March 31 – April 4
Vegas
- Seminar: Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert
- Images: Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Voices: Speaker from Lynchburg Water Utility
TRIP – April 5-12 – Las Vegas, NV
Week 13 – April 14-18
Religion
- Seminar: CQ Researcher articles
- Images: DVD: Jesus Camp
- James B. Twitchell, Branded Nation Chapters 1 and 2
- Voices: Visit to Christian bookstore
Week 14 – April 21-25
Celebrity/News
- Seminar: Richard Schickel, Intimate Strangers
- Images: DVD - Outfoxed
- Look at celebrity magazines – US Weekly, etc.
- Voices: Local news reporter/producer
Las Vegas Trip Itinerary
American Culture Program - Las Vegas
April
5-12
Saturday, April 5
- 11:30 a.m. Depart RC
- 7:30 p.m. Arrive Las Vegas
- Staying at Fitzgerald’s Hotel and Casino
Sunday, April 6
- 9:00 a.m. Central Christian Church
- Attend service, meet with Matt Saffer, Young Adult Pastor
- Noon Lunch
- 1:00 p.m. Depart for Hoover Dam Tour
Monday, April 7
- 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
- 10:30 a.m. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association
- Meet with Erika Pope, Sr. Manager of Public Relations
- Noon Lunch
- 3:00 p.m. Sen. Reid’s office – meet Shannon Rayborn, who works
on growth and public lands issues for the Senator
- 5:00 p.m. Depart Vegas, drive to Ely, dinner on the road
- Stay at Hotel Nevada
Tuesday, April 8
- 8:00 a.m. Breakfast at hotel restaurant
- 9:00 a.m. Depart Ely for Snake Valley
- 10:00 a.m. Tour of the Snake Valley with rancher Dean Baker re: water
rights issues
- (Lunch along the way)
- Talk to Bruce and Gordon Eldridge
- Group discussion in the evening
- Stay at Hotel Nevada
Wednesday, April 9
- 8:00 a.m. Return to Vegas
- Noon Lunch @ Springs Preserve, meet with Zane Marshall, Southern Nevada
Water Authority, Environmental Resources Manager
- 3:30 p.m.m Tour of Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel
- Talk to manager of the Chapel
- Stay at Bally’s Hotel and Casino
Thursday, April 10
- 8:30 a.m. Breakfast at Bally’s, conversation with Richard Abowitz
- 9:30 a.m. Depart hotel
- 11:00 a.m. Tour of the Chicken Ranch Brothel in Pahrump , NV
- 12:30 p.m. Lunch in Pahrump
- 3:00 p.m. Backstage tour of Jubilee! At Bally’s
- 7:30 p.m. Jubilee! At Bally’s
Friday, April 11
- Red Rock Canyon State Park
- Group Discussion
- Free time in the afternoon
Saturday, April 12
