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With extensive media coverage of gruesome acts committed by ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Jihadists, the Taliban and the Boko Haram, to name a few, many Americans wonder why Islam lends itself so readily to violent extremism. The same question has been recently raised on-campus by the Enquiry, a weekly opinion editorial sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Institute, prompting the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and the Arabic and Middle East Club (AMEC) to invite a panel of experts to campus in an effort to deepen the community’s understanding of the connection, or lack thereof, between Islam and extremism.

Many of us have experienced a technological glitch, whether the TV isn’t responding to the remote, or the dishwasher is starting on its own. While such glitches are typically an inconvenience, when the machine has the potential to detect life-threatening medical conditions, the stakes are higher. During her time at Mass General Hospital (MGH) this summer, Catherine Oglevee ’15, a chemistry and mathematics double major, discovered first hand that no matter how advanced a machine may be, none are immune to malfunctions.

Thousands of spectators filled the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House to hear Derek Jeter, five-time World Series champion and member of MLB’s 3,000-hit club, participate in a moderated question and answer session.

Students gathered on Dec. 4  for an event publicized on social media as a “Student Walk Out and Die-In,” a reflection of national concern over recent decisions related to police actions against persons of color, specifically the grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown as well as a similar decision related to the death of Eric Garner in New York City.

Although the United States remained intact after the Civil War, animosity between northerners and southerners has never fully dissipated. Joseph Glatthaar, the Stephenson Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, believes this can be largely attributed to the “raiding strategy” employed by the Union during the latter half of the Civil War. Glatthaar travelled to the Hill on Nov. 11 for a lecture and book-signing.

Robert Blecker, professor of law at New York Law School, and Sarah Turberville, senior counsel at The Constitution Project, traveled to the Hill on Nov. 6 for a panel discussion of perspectives on capital punishment in the U.S. The Levitt Center event was moderated by Hamilton’s Frank Anechiarico, the Maynard-Knox Professor of Government and Law.

Whether tight on cash or short on time, many us understand the concept of scarcity. Although scarcity is often analyzed through the lens of economics, Sendhil Mullainathan, professor of economics at Harvard University, has added the lens of psychology to his work. Co-author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, he explained the major concepts of his work to an overflowing Chapel audience on Oct. 23.

Ken Bain, professor of history and urban education at the University of the District of Columbia, came to the Hill on Sept. 29 for a talk titled “What the Best College Students Do.” The lecture was centered around material from his award-winning 2004 book with the same name.

The question of what it means to be “American” has never been easy to answer. For marginalized groups, issues of competing identities and stereotypes can lead to discrepancies between self-identification and phenotypic identification. Shabana Mir, professor of anthropology at Millikin University, presented the findings of her research on the post 9/11 experiences of Muslim American women in American higher education in a Hamilton lecture on Sept. 23.

In modern day America, it’s sometimes said that racism no longer exists. Three decades after the Civil Rights Movement, our country elected its first black president, seemingly validating this view. However, John Dovidio, the Carl Iver Hovland Professor of Psychology and the Dean of Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Yale University, disagrees.