Annual Life Raft Debate Takes on Post-Apocalyptic Survival

University Housing

So you've survived the apocalypse. Now it's time to rebuild. Any rebuilt society needs a variety of skills to ensure the survival of humankind.

But what types of skills, knowledge, or leadership styles are most important to a functioning society?

If you had one spot left on a life raft setting out to rebuild society, how would you choose the last individual to ensure the continuation of civilization?

Join University Housing at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at Hillside Auditorium 202 for the University of Arkansas's third annual Life Raft Debate, where a panel of professors will debate over which discipline most deserves a place in rebuilding a new, post-apocalypse world.

Participating Professors

This year's Life Raft Debate will feature the following faculty:

• David Barrett, philosophy
• Susan Bristow, business
• Ann Diallo, political science
• Frank Jacobus, architecture
• Scott Osborn, engineering

Professors will be asked to defend the merits of their own disciplines while showing how their disciplines contribute to society at large.

Lissette Lopez Szwydky (English), will moderate the debate. Lopez Szwydky serves as University Housing's Faculty-in-Residence.

Students will vote for the winner of the debate at the end of the event.

Submit Questions Ahead of Time

You can submit questions on Twitter with the hashtag #UARKLifeRaft during or before the debate.

The debate will offer a unique intellectual experience that challenges students to consider the impact that academic life has on society. What kind of society would we want to create if we could start anew? Have you chosen your own major because you respect its role in society and believe it's important?

Survival-themed door prizes will be distributed at the event.

As an added bonus, the horticulture department will demonstrate how to make acorns edible — a useful skill to have just in case you ever find yourself in a survival-scavenger scenario.

After the event, there will be a reception with the professors. Light refreshments will be served.

About the Life Raft Debate

"Life Raft" debates started almost 20 years ago at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. Since then, several universities including Cornell University, University of Buffalo, the College of William and Mary, and University College Dublin have started their own annual traditions. The goal of the event is to help students see the value of their academic training in a much broader context.

The Life Raft Debate is an academic component of Housing's @Home series. The @Home series consists of 14 signature events during the school year that focus on academic success, personal development or diversity education.

For more information contact housing@uark.edu or call 479-575-3951.