The Geneva Question

During the spring semester we hold a competition where a student will partner with a member of the faculty or staff to create a question.  Each team provides a short essay explaining the basis and pertinence of the question they devise. The question should be significant, relevant, and relate to many areas of our academic and personal lives. It is essential that the question be open-ended and unbiased to encourage many ideas to form in the process of collaborative critical thinking.

In the fall, students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to integrate the question into their endeavors, speakers are invited to campus to address the question, and special discussion forums are offered that center around the question.  Throughout the year, a portfolio of the year’s lectures, essays, and relevant discussions is assembled online.

When choosing a question to submit for the competition, it is essential that the question encompass a host of topics and fields of study in a concise manner. The question should be metaphysical, promote theoretical discussion, and have practical applications.  Some examples of such questions are:

• Is happiness attainable?
• What is “the sublime” and how can we recognize it?
• Is there an absolute limit to human discovery?

Questions like these do not have a clear or immediate answer and will promote discussion on a variety of topics with a wide range of applications.

After the entries have been submitted, a committee of faculty and students will blindly evaluate the questions and one will be chosen as the winner. The winning question will be announced in late April. The winning student and faculty member will each be awarded $100.