The Veritas Forum will return to Cal Poly next week; event organizers said the event will inspire discussion around issues like truth, life and religion.
The annual event has been at Cal Poly since 2007. The Veritas Forum, which gets its name from the Latin word for truth, brings in educated speakers from all walks of life to pose their theories and questions to students to be scrutinized and examined.
Aerospace junior and Veritas Forum club president Josh Ceccarelli said that Veritas has earned an honest reputation when it comes to life’s deepest questions.
“Students from any worldview and any kind of background in general can just come and have discussions on what it means to live a true life and gives them the chance to pursue some of that knowledge,” he said. “There are so many difficult questions out there and (at Veritas Forum) those questions can be discussed in a safe, intelligent environment.”
Discussion topics will range from an art exhibit to an origin of life debate, and will also include a documentary on modern-day slavery.
After each event, audience members will have the opportunity to learn more in a 45-minute question-and-answer period. Ceccarelli said this would ensure fair discussion.
Monday will feature an art exhibit titled “Exploring Truth through Art” in which art will be submitted by current or former Cal Poly students
Tuesday will feature a presentation by Kelly Monroe Kullberg titled “Finding God beyond Harvard.” Kullberg is the founder and director of project development of The Veritas Forum, which she first organized as a graduate student at Harvard in 1992, according to the Veritas Web site. She also co-authored the best-selling “Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Christian Thinkers.”
A creationist, assisted evolutionist and atheistic evolutionist will debate the origin of life Wednesday.
“In the past, when we’ve had a creationism versus evolution debate, I haven’t really liked them because I think there is more of a spectrum of what people believe. I think it’s important to talk about that spectrum in a discussion,” said Chelsea Morrell, biomedical engineering senior and Veritas Forum vice president. “Instead of there is a God or there is no God and maybe he is (involved) in parts of evolution or not at all.”
All three speakers are professors at different universities; the forum’s organizers wanted to feature people of similar scientific backgrounds and intellectual levels.
A documentary titled “Call and Response” will be shown in Chumash Auditorium at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday. The documentary aims to inform that “there are more slaves today than ever in human history” according to the Veritas Web site. The documentary spans from India to Cambodia portraying modern-day slavery like child brothels and slave brick kilns.
“A lot of people will say this shouldn’t be happening, but then it’s like what do we do about it?” Ceccarelli said.
The last presentation of the week is a speech is titled “Why Does a Good God Allow Suffering?” that will be given by Greg Jesson, Ph.D.
Computer engineering senior and Cal Poly Brights club president Nichola Utschig said that students will probably want to debate the topic all night.
“It’s a lot of fun, and that’s always a good debating topic, and I expect the questions to run long past (the allotted) time on that topic,” he added. “It’s a novel question that’s been going on for centuries.”
All events are open to the public. At the documentary showing, priority will be given to students.
Although the event promises to draw strong opinions, organizers said it will be a positive learning experience for all.
“It’s not something where different religions are going to be pushed or different ideas are going to be proven right or wrong but just a place where dialogue can be had,” Ceccarelli said.