Catalyst Book Selection Proves Almost Too Timely

Last year, the book selected for this year’s Catalyst common reading initiative captured the Flint water crisis. Penned by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don’t See: A story of crisis, resistance, and hope in an American city, taps into her personal experience in sleuthing the source of the city’s water problems.

While her narrative spurred litigation that continues, the current situation in Newark, New Jersey now seems all too familiar. As part of the Honors College New Student Induction Ceremony on October 12^th, Dr. Mona will be addressing incoming students at an important time. As her book jacket summarizes, “(she) reveals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk.”

In the interim, and as events unfold in Newark, Pittsburgh and elsewhere, Honors College students are reminded how “a spirit of inquiry” can take curious, concerned scholars well beyond the University setting to, as Dr. Mona says, “fight for justice, self-determination, and the right to build a better world.”