This summer’s Common Reading Program selection was announced Tuesday, putting a twist on the usual scientific based issues facing our generation. Incoming freshmen will receive a copy of it at orientation and hear the author speak at convocation in August.
‘Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption’ by Bryan Stevenson is the true tale of a young lawyer’s experience with the criminal justice system, learning about its complications and inequities. His client, Walter McMillian, was on death row for a murder he did not commit.
Eileen Taylor, chair of the 2016 Common Reading Selection Committee, said part of the reason the book was chosen is because of the way it highlights issues of mass incarceration and institutional injustice through multiple perspectives.
“We felt as though Stevenson handled these issues with care and this selection promotes the Common Reading Program’s goal of active engagement with the community,” Taylor said.
Another reason for choosing the book was its focus on prison reform and the conversation that is currently taking place in politics.
Because nearly 4,000 students have to read the book, Taylor said the committee tried to choose a read that would interest everyone.
“We have to consider all of the colleges; engineering, humanities and social sciences, business, agriculture — we have to keep all of them in mind,” Taylor said. “We thought this is also representative of what NC state students should be reading about.”
The book deals with problems dating back twenty years, but offers suggestions of how to fix the racial climate society currently faces.
“I had this idea that the justice system is fair and blind, but that’s not how it is,” Taylor said.
Stevenson graduated from Eastern University and Harvard Law School and is currently a law professor at New York University School of Law. He also founded and is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice that defends the poor, wrongly accused, women and children trapped in the criminal justice system.
“With his degree from Harvard, he could have gone anywhere,” Taylor said, “But he chose to go to Alabama and spend his time working with the underprivileged.”
The Common Reading Program committee receives anywhere between 50–70 book nominations a year. Anyone can submit a nomination through their website. The committee divides up the books and each reads a handful the summer before they make their final decision in December, announcing the selection in February.
The committee invites members of the NC State community and beyond to attend their first meeting Tuesday at 2 p.m. in room 4140 Talley Student Union. Those who attend are encouraged to bring ideas of how to incorporate the book into activities on campus.
