The Radcliffe Seminars program recently added five new lectures that will focus on today's most provocative social, political and ethical issues.

The Tuesday evening series, "Voices of Public Intellectuals," will be held at the Cronkhite Graduate Center, 6 Ash St., from Oct. 13 to Dec. 8.

The lectures will be open to members of the public who reserve in advance. Each lecture costs $40 to attend, and the whole series costs $195.

"With this new series, women and men will hear from some of today's leading thinkers on the key issues confronting our society," said Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson.

The first featured lecture is "Public Intellectuals in the Public Sector", by University of Illinois Professor Michael Berube. Berube is the author of the book The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies.

The second lecture, "Truthfulness and Deceit in Public Life," will feature Sissela Bok, who is a fellow in the department of population and international health at the Center for Population and Development Studies.

Bok, who is the wife of President Emeritus Derek C. Bok, also wrote the book Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment. She will be speaking Oct. 27.

Former network television correspondent Marvin Kalb will lecture on Nov. 10 about "Journalism: A Craft Under Fire". Kalb is the director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government.

Radcliffe Public Policy fellow Wendy Kaminer will address "Censorship, Unreason and the Therapeutic Culture" on Nov. 17. Kaminer is an attorney who is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio. She has also authored several books, including It's All the Rage; Crime and Culture.

In the last of the series, Thomas Professor of Divinity Harvey G. Cox will speak on "Religion, Violence and Reconciliation." Cox teaches courses on urbanization and theological developments in world Christianity at the Divinity School.

Administrative Director of Radcliffe Seminars Anna Chesson explained that "Voices of Public Intellectuals" is but a small part of Radcliffe's Seminars program.

"This new series is only about one-10th of what we do," she said. "In this particular series, prominent intellectuals are given the opportunity to speak on a variety of issues with an overall theme."

The lectures will begin at 6 p.m., except for Bok's lecture which will begin at 4 p.m.

To reserve a seat, interested individuals must call the Radcliffe Seminars office at 495-8600.