The university has approved a reading of "The Vagina Monologues" in April with an "Academic Conversation on Catholicism, Sexuality and Human Rights," according to Brigid O'Brien Miller, director of university communication.
Miller said the Honors Program will host the event, which will include an opening talk, the reading, a guided conversation and a panel discussion. This is considered different from last year's decision to not allow a performance of the play on campus because April's reading will not be just a performance in a theater, but part of a larger event.
Anthony Peressini, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Honors Program, said students in the Honors Program approached him this year and expressed interest in issues, like sexual violence, that surround the play.
"We got together and found a way to address (this issue) from an academic standpoint," he said.
A panel discussion after the performance will allow multiple viewpoints to be heard, Miller said.
"It is part of the programming of an academic unit with extensive faculty development and only one piece of a larger academic discussion about issues of violence against women," she said.
Provost Madeline Wake agreed, saying the program will be different from a performance of the play because there is an open discussion afterward and the Honors Program intends to frame the program in a faith context.
The panel will include Amelia Zurcher, assistant professor of English; Theresa Tobin, assistant professor of philosophy; and a speaker who has not yet been confirmed, Peressini said.
According to Wake, a group of Marquette faculty and administrators met in the fall to develop an academic program.
"Last year, we talked of the difference of an academic exercise and a performance of the play," Wake said in an e-mail. "The program will include a panel of experts who will combine academic perspectives of sexual assault, feminism and human rights."
There are no plans for an admission fee because it is a symposium or academic study and not a performance, Peressini said. Wake said this program is intended as an educational effort for the students and not as a fundraiser.
According to Miller, this program is consistent with Decree 14 of the Documents of the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus: Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society.
Miller said the statement calls "all Jesuits to listen carefully and courageously to the experience of women." The statement also invites "all Jesuits, as individuals and through their institutions, to align themselves in solidarity with women" and to give "specific attention to the phenomenon of violence against women."