Reuman Reading Group
 Every semester, the
Philosophy Department at Colby College sponsors an informal
faculty-student reading group for philosophers and friends to meet, eat,
and philosophize. Although the Robert E. Reuman Reading Group was officially
established in 1998, its roots go much further back in the Department's
history to Professor Reuman who regularly organized and hosted similar
groups. Bob Reuman was an extraordinary professor of philosophy, combining intellectual profundity and moral integrity with intellectual integrity and moral profundity. The Reuman Reading Group was established by his colleagues, students, prison-mates*, and friends as fitting and lasting reminder of what can be so special about philosophy at a residential liberal arts college. In recent years, typical Reuman Groups have included between 12 and 18 students, and between 3 and 7 faculty members - including faculty from other academic departments, philosophers from other colleges, and even faculty on sabbatical! But perhaps that shouldn't be much of a surprise because our once a week dinners feature the compelling attractions of jovial camaraderie and lively, free-wheeling philosophical conversation (sometimes even staying on topic). * Bob Reuman was sentenced to a year and a day (making him officially a felon) in a federal penitentiary for refusing to register for the peace-time draft. The draft board could not understand how the captain of a college football team and the president of his fraternity could be, on purely philosophical grounds, a genuine conscientious objector. For full memorial minutes for Bob Reuman, a eulogy can be read here. What We're Reading Now:
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