Reka Nabe reports on her experiences at Northwestern University where she is attending “It’s a Matter of Life and Death: Bioethical Decision-Making.”
“My first week at Northwestern CPP has been nothing like I envisioned in the best way possible. During check-in on my first day, I happened to find my roommate, Clara, in our residence hall before either of us had actually entered our room, which meant that we got to experience the astonishment together of discovering that we lucked out on more or less the best room in our entire hall. It’s a massive loft with two halves separated by a full wall, each of which we agreed is bigger than our rooms in our houses, so we have a ton of privacy while still sharing a space to study together and chat. We decided to head downstairs to the lounge (affectionately called the WFFL, pronounced “waffle,” for “Willard first floor lounge”) to watch the rest of the World Cup and meet new people. We just introduced ourselves to everyone we bumped into, added them to a group text chat, and they joined us until we had this massive group of twenty-ish girls running around the halls and giving each other room tours,” Reka says.
“We started out with a lecture (that felt less like a lecture and more like an educational conversation) about basic ethical terminology: the difference between descriptive and normative ethics, teleological versus deontological thinking, cultural and ethical relativism, and a set of other ideas none of us had ever heard of before but walked out understanding well. We also discussed the Hippocratic Oath and newer bioethical policies like principlism, which gives a somewhat subjective set of guidelines for medical treatment. We debated cases and had to reevaluate how much of our perception of morality is based on the laws we’ve grown up around. A few of us debriefed afterward and agreed that the class was thought-provoking and deep; I still have no idea why there were only five people signed up. I’m kind of grateful it turned out that way, though: we get to contribute a lot more individually in a lower-pressure environment, and we can really have discourse that includes our unfiltered opinions,” Reka explains.
“Over the course of the week, we’ve moved through topics like child organ donation, informed consent to care, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and euthanasia, addressing each with the same amount of thoroughness and care that our professor gave us on the first day of class. On the third day of class, we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, where we got to view a set of 18 fetuses that show different stages of gestational growth and development, which, when we asked how they were obtained, led to an unfortunate explanation that they were the results of miscarriages. I had never seen anything like that exhibit before, so it was a saddening but also captivating experience. On a lighter note, our professor also bought us all astronaut ice cream (freeze-dried ice cream bars) because, for lack of a better explanation, he’s just awesome like that. He also let us make a Spotify jam to listen to on the car ride back and celebrated when he heard Fleetwood Mac and The Cure were popular within our group,” Reka reports.
When not in class, Reka was able to explore the Northwestern University campus, plus visit the beach and Chinatown with friends. “We got to explore campus extensively, which was amazing because the architecture all over Northwestern is beautiful (and there are baby rabbits everywhere),” Reka says.
“I am having so much fun while simultaneously learning so much about the world and myself at CPP. In a week, I’ve gained a set of experiences as valuable, if not more, than those I’ve had in the past six months. I am immeasurably grateful to have this opportunity and can’t wait to see what the rest of my time at CPP will have in store,” Reka exclaims!
We are happy to hear that you are having a valuable learning experience at Northwestern, Reka, and can’t wait to hear more!
