Eastern Kentucky University's Chautauqua Lectures is in its seventh year. Like the original Chautauqua Institution in New York, it has the goals of:

• Refreshing minds
• Renewing intellectual curiosity
• Encouraging individual expression
• Promoting civil discourse.

John Vincent wrote that it was the aim of the Chautauqua Institution to "take people on all sides of their natures and make them new, more intelligent and thoughtful in a world of ideas." We agree. Unlike the original we:

• Explore a single, significant idea
• Educate by engaging people
• Challenge individuals to explore their assumptions
• Provide a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

During the 2006-07 academic year we are exploring the idea of Compassion.