Reggie Thompson
The Paw Print
Adams State College’s Faculty Lecture series continues February 16 with professor of history and philosophy Dr. Stuart J. Hilwig. Last month, in part one of the semester long series, Lyle Carbutt, adjunct professor of earth science, delivered a well-received lecture covering the study of Sauropods. This month, Professor Hilwig will present “1968 The Year that Rocked the World: Student Protests in Europe and Beyond.”
“Most people have an idea of [the assassinations of] Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, as well as the Chicago riots, and things like that, but rebellion didn’t just happen here,” Hilwig informed. “There was a global rejection of authority. I hope the audience learns how important 1968 was in countries outside of our own.”
Among other instances, this lecture should include the events in Germany, Italy, and France in 1968. While discussing his upcoming lecture, Hilwig brought attention to France’s conflicts in May of 1968, in which university students revolted over class discrimination in French society and as many as 10 million workers went on strike (approximately two-thirds of the country’s workforce) in order to cast out President Charles de Gaulle and the government under him.
Hilwig put an emphasis on the rebellion in Italy in his book, Italy and 1968: Youthful Unrest and Democratic Culture. Here, Hilwig used media analysis, archival research, and interviews to portray a lesser known and less understood point of view regarding the radical student protests. This is Hilwig’s most recent of his several publications and contributions to the subject.
Protests and rebellion have been the focus of Hilwig’s research since 1992, when he began his master’s program at Ohio State University and on through 2000, while he received his Ph.D. in philosophy and history from OSU. Since then, he continued that research while working here at Adams State, teaching classes such as The Development of World Civilizations: Human Prehistory to the Present, The History of Modern Europe, and an enrichment course titled The Holocaust in Film, to name a few.
When asked about why he chose this subject matter as his focus, Hilwig revealed: “the topic seemed interesting to me for a few reasons: I was interested in politics and social movements… I was interested in the legacy of Fascism and Nazism in postwar Italy and West Germany…” Then the professor lightly added, “[plus] rebellion sounds cool.”
Over the years, Hilwig involved himself with the Woodard Scholarship Committee (2002-2003), the Council of the Center of Excellence in Learning and Teaching (2003-2004), and, most recently, he served as senator for the Department of History, Government and Philosophy (2008-2010), in addition to services for numerous other organizations within the decade. For his active work in the classroom and around campus, Dr. Hilwig earned the Exemplary Faculty Award for the academic year of 2005-2006.
With his impressive knowledge and witty sense of humor, Dr. Hilwig’s segment in the ASC Faculty Lecture Series should make for a fun, interesting, and educational time. The hour long lecture will be held Wednesday, February 16 at 7 p.m. in Porter Hall room 130.
What’s Been Said…