Wurzweiler Prof Pontificates at Summer Symposium in Oxford

Wurzweiler Professor Jonathan Fast was one of 22 academics from around the world invited to the annual Oxford Symposium at Brasenose College in Oxford, England. Dr. Fast presented a paper called The School System From Hell, a reference to the school district of North-Western Alaska and how its' embedded racism toward the local indigenous cultures, the Yup’iks and the Athbaskans, and structured inequality of services was one of the factors contributing to a school rampage shooting by Evan Ramsey in 1997. The paper was adapted by Dr. Fast from his book Ceremonial Violence: the Psychologicl Explanation for School Shootings, which will be published in September by the Overlook Press.

The five day event, organized by University of San Franciso's Center for Family and Child Development, began on August 10^th. Twenty-two attendees from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, China, and the Phillipines, presented papers on topics at the cutting edge of school based health and family therapy. During their free time, attendees explored Oxford’s narrow streets, marveled at the architecture, or practiced punting on the Thames.