Members of Christopher Hanlon’s English 3001 class will hold a conference titled “Welcome to the Twenty-First Century: Hamburgers, McSchools, .coms and Eastern” on Monday from 8-11 a.m. in Coleman Hall, Room 3159.

“The conference focuses on fast food, both as a commodity and as a metaphor for a certain set of values,” Hanlon said. “Some presenters will discuss the ramifications of fast food in terms of the labor practices of the industry and the values it instills in our culture.”

Hanlon’s students will discuss the research they have done on Eastern itself and ask the attendees whether the current conditions at Eastern point to the “McDonaldization” of the education process.

Hanlon also noted that a panel specifically focused on Eastern will examine the ways in which market-based, consumer-oriented values can challenge and possibly upset higher education’s more traditional sense of mission.

Four panels will be presented. The first is titled, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Fast Food World.” Presenters for this panel are Christine Kennely, Lindsay Schlick, Joellen Wilson, Krista Thompson, Brenda Weber, Katie Hickey and Courtney Fidler.

The second panel is “Supersizing Education: A Diploma, Coke and Fries to Go,” presented by Andrea Esker, Kelley Flanagan and Amee Bohrer. “The Movement Toward Market-based Education at Eastern: Conflict of Values?” is the third panel, given by Cody Musk, Kimberly Coffey, Crystal Pipher and April Tarullo. Alta King and Margaret Bernard will present “Have_we_become_too.com,” the fourth panel.

Hanlon has seen the panelists’ material and said that the conference promises to be both entertaining and enlightening.