“A Hope in the Unseen, An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League,” follows the two-year journey of a prickly, religious honor student as he escapes from a blighted, Washington, D.C. terrain to find a home at Brown University. The book, which was launched by a series in the Wall Street Journal that won him the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, has been a favorite on U.S. campuses and in book clubs.

-www.ronsuskind.com

Eastern is initiating a new freshman reading program for 2007 that will require all incoming freshmen to read the same book before their fall semester.

Eastern Reads! will emphasize reading as a significant component of the college experience and enhance student participation in intellectual life of campus.

“A Hope in the Unseen,” by Ron Suskind, is the chosen book for 2007 that Bonnie Irwin, dean of the honors college, has seen other schools have success with.

“We wanted a book that would stimulate thought, one that a lot of people could relate to and a readable one,” Irwin said. “Not an easy one, but one that moves quickly.”

The book had to fit certain criteria. It needs to invoke a range of opinions to stimulate discussion, be open to interdisciplinary approaches, be of general interest and academic merit and deal with contemporary social and cultural issues, Irwin said.

“We chose ‘A Hope in the Unseen’ because it best addressed many of the issues faced by incoming college students,” said Robert Fischer, associate chair of biological sciences.

Suskind was the senior national affairs writer for the Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000. He has also written “The Price of Loyalty,” “The One Percent Doctrine,” and contributed to “Profiles in Courage for Our Times.”

The book follows a college student and his adjustments to his new life.

“I’ve read most of the book and I think that it tells an important story about adjusting to college and racial issues,” Irwin said.

Eastern faculty members brainstormed about how to engage students in a common academic experience, Fischer said.

Each incoming freshman will receive a book at summer orientation along with resources about the book, its author and other interest books.

Parents of incoming freshmen will also receive a flyer about the book and are encouraged to read it to prepare for discussions during parent weekend.

The Friday before classes start, a committee will meet and discuss general questions they are going to be using in their discussion groups with the students. Throughout the fall semester a group of 30 students will meet with their assigned faculty and staff groups and discuss the reading. These groups will continue all fall until all freshmen have discussed the book.

Faculty will be asked, when appropriate, to incorporate the book within their coursework and other students are encouraged to read the book as well. However, all of the university foundations classes will incorporate it into their classes.

The faculty and staff on the committee had interests in helping with this program and some were asked by Provost Blair Lord to serve on the committee.

Their long-term goal is to ask the campus for recommendations on choosing a book and developing a Web site.

The web site will have resources about the book and other suggested books for the students if they like their summer reading. The book is required for all incoming freshman and copies of it will be sold at the bookstore and it will also be available in Booth Library.