Noam Chomsky spoke to almost 2,000 attendees students about creating social change through political activism.
Although class may have been over for many, students and faculty still found themselves flocking to hear another lecture on Thursday and Friday — but instead of listening to a professor, they were listening to the man often referred to as the “father of modern linguistics.”
Around 800 people filled the Colony Ballroom in the Stamp Student Union Thursday afternoon and about 900 more came Friday evening to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center to listen to Noam Chomsky — one of the country’s leading linguists, philosophers and activists — as part of the College of Arts and Humanities’ Dean’s Lecture Series. Chomsky spoke to packed rooms both nights — hundreds of people were turned away, event officials said — about topics ranging from linguistics to political activism.
Chomsky, an 83-year-old professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has written more than 100 books and was the most cited living person in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index between 1980 and 1992.
During Thursday’s talk, “Grammar, Mind and Body: A Personal View,” Chomsky spoke about the science and history of language. He highlighted the importance of questioning everything, such as why a cup falls to the ground or why steam rises — things Chomsky said people need to believe occurred because it was “natural.”
“Scientific curiosity is not so easy to arouse. Most of what is happening around us, it just seems obvious,” Chomsky said. “Willingness to be puzzled is typically a first step toward understanding.”
Friday’s talk, “Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours,” focused on politics, and Chomsky spoke about economic and political topics like the Occupy movement, the healthcare system and the recession.
Many audience members said Chomsky’s lecture inspired them to change their thinking and be more mindful of their actions.
“From now on, I want to be more sensitive to the circumstances of my actions as well as their implications, keeping in mind that every action has its consequences,” said Jeff Wang, a junior hearing and speech sciences major.
Other students said even though Chomsky is an intellectual, his ideas were easy to follow.
“He’s pretty much just a genius. Everything he says makes so much sense,” freshman computer engineering major Jordan Seres said. “He connects one topic to another so seamlessly.”
This is the kind of reaction Elizabeth Loizeaux, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Humanities, said she hoped for. She said she wanted Chomsky’s lectures to engage and encourage students to think about questions within the arts and humanities.
“I hope students are excited by what they hear, and, especially, that they take away a sense of the thrill and wonder of thinking about the big questions of human life,” Loizeaux said. “It’s an amazing thing in itself to see a brilliant mind at work.”
Colin Phillips, a linguistics professor and co-director of the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Lab — who was also a graduate student at MIT and one of Chomsky’s advisees and teaching assistants — said Chomsky’s lectures ignited a passion for learning in students he doesn’t often see on the campus.
“I was delighted to see so many students attending the different events, and asking questions afterwards. It’s great to see this level of intellectual engagement on the campus,” Phillips said. “The student body sometimes has a reputation for apathy, or for only coming together for sports or parties, and intellectual engagement is not always something to be proud of. That wasn’t in evidence the past two days.”
Although students often don’t go to lectures voluntarily, Phillips said, he was not surprised so many lined up to listen to Chomsky speak.
“This is a tell-the-grandkids type of experience. If you had an opportunity to go hear Einstein speak back in the 1950s, would you have taken it?” Phillips said. “Going to hear Chomsky talk today is in the same league as that.”
kelley@umdbk.com
