Incoming freshman with majors as diverse as nuclear engineering and political science receive one common assignment before fall classes start: to read a book. It may sound simple, but when the book claims to discuss “the central moral challenge of our time”, students and faculty have found it may not be so easy to dismiss.

This book, titled “Half the Sky”, was written by two journalists, Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof, who set out to investigate the plight of women around the world and were taken aback at what they found.

Lauren Demanovich, a senior in sociology and communication, served as a student representative on the Common Reading Selection Committee that chose Half the Sky as the summer reading last year.

“I knew that there were injustices in the world towards women, but I was surprised by the extent of what I read about,” Demanovich said.

Demanovich read the book after it was selected as one of the top five candidates to be the freshman reading, and said there were numerous reasons why the committee thought the book would be appropriate for the incoming freshman class.

“The people who read Half the Sky first from our committee were very adamant about it being a worthy book,” Demanovich said. “What I liked about it was that although the book deals with a lot of hard issues, it gives a positive outlook on what we can do instead of just listing a lot of problems.”

According to Donna Burton, who served as the head of the Common Reading Selection Committee last year, nominations for the summer reading book open in September every year, and any student or faculty member can make a nomination.

“Last year we had 47 nominations for books and the committee looks to see which books meet the qualifications,” Burton said. “We have to consider that the majority of students reading the book will be 18, so some books may not be appropriate at that age.”

Burton said a big factor in choosing a book was the ability to get the author to speak at Convocation at Wolfpack Welcome Week. The bookstore helps to research the author’s availability and cost.

“Once we found out we would be able to get Sheryl WuDunn at Wolfpack Welcome Week, that was a major factor in the selection,” Burton said.

In addition, Burton said Half the Sky was a top contender because it appealed to a wide variety of majors and disciplines, it was likely that most students had not read it, and it had a lot of potential to spark discussion.

According to Burton, it is up to the individual colleges to choose how to incorporate the book into freshman introductory classes.

“In First Year College, students are required to read the summer book and write a paper on it that they turn in on the first day of class,” said Carrie McLean, Director of First Year College.

McLean said she noticed that Half the Sky seemed to invoke a stronger response from students than books in the past.

“This is a tough book to read but it is real,” McLean said. “We wanted to be careful about how we discussed the book in classrooms so we worked with the Women’s Center this summer to create a summer reading facilitation guide.”

McLean said survivors of sexual abuse had a harder time with the content of the book, so it was important to have the Women Center available for counseling if needed.

“A lot of action is being taken in response to this book, both locally and internationally,” McLean said. “We hope to have a sexual assault prevention workshop that ties into the issues presented in the summer reading this fall.”

Students expressed feelings of increased awareness and being overwhelmed in the orientation class papers, according to McLean.

“The papers were inspiring to read because although the topics are hard to deal with students want to move on and want to know what they can do to help,” McLean said.

Demanovich said she has also seen an energetic response on campus towards Half the Sky.

“Professors are offering to give out grants for projects that relate to the book and a whole separate committee was created to discuss how to respond to the book,” Demanovich said.

Professors Kenneth Esbenshade and Jo’Ann Cohen have started a group called the Uncommon Reading Initiative that seeks to formulate ideas to take action against the issues in Half the Sky.

According to Cohen the provost will provide $10,000 for projects related to Half the Sky.  There will be a call for proposals this fall and the funding will probably be limited to $500 per proposal.

“The idea is to have a program that works on creating a response to every freshman reading book,” Burton said. “We hope to do something that sets N.C. State apart as a University that doesn’t just read a book but takes action as well.”