Sacramento State faculty are hosting a symposium on Monday in the University Union’s Hinde Auditorium to discuss how communities have been affected by and are dealing with the outcome of Proposition 8.

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, is an all-day event and includes lectures, panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions.

Jeffrey Mason, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, created the event in response to the resignation of Scott Eckern, the former artistic director for California Music Theater. Eckern received nationwide criticism last year after it was discovered he made donations to the Yes on 8 campaign.

Mason said the symposium is meant to explore the reasoning behind the arguments for and against gay marriage in an academic setting. He said he felt there was a lack of understanding on both sides and holding an event to facilitate better communication would be beneficial to the campus.

“In public, it appeared that (Eckern) felt the negative reaction to the position he took that he couldn’t continue (his job),” Mason said. “That caught my interest because it seems to me a society like ours, anybody should be able to take a position.”

Mason decided a symposium would be the ideal environment for faculty members to share their research with their coworkers and students. Faculty members of the College of Arts and Letters were contacted and gathered to decide when to hold the symposium.

“It became clear that different people in the room had different views and decided to work together,” Mason said. “We feel especially that with issues that are so sensitive ? even when issues like (abortion) come up, we feel that we should be able to disagree.”

Thomas Pyne, chair of the department of philosophy, is one of several scheduled speakers at the symposium. Pyne said the symposium is an important contribution to the community because there are very few adequate outlets for peacefully discussing controversial topics.

“Universities are the places where theoretical issues like this can be discussed by people who know what they’re talking about in a dispassionate way,” Pyne said. “This is what universities should be doing.”

Pyne’s speech will be on marriage and moral realism, including what he calls “the intuition.” He said “the intuition” is based on what is felt by a person and not necessarily based on fact.

“The intuition is marriage between a man and woman,” Pyne said. “That’s an intuition; it’s not true by definition. Even people who wish to question the intuition share it.”

Pyne’s speech will focus on marriage traditionalist and naturalist arguments. He does not think marriage is natural to humans and said marriage traditionalists will argue that heterosexual monogamy is better for society than any alternative arrangement. Pyne calls the arguments “highly intellectualized reasons” that are very theoretical.

“I wanted to explain that initial reaction,” Pyne said. “The marriage traditionalist is not ? an adequate account of why this intuition has the power that it does.”

Brian DiSarro, assistant professor of government, will delve into the ties between historical, cultural and political stances on gay marriage and equal rights and how they relate to each other.

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected].