The University of Delawares Center for Political Communication
(CPC) will sponsor its eighth annual National Agenda speaker series
this semester, beginning Wednesday, Sept. 12, with a talk by
award-winning journalist Lauren Duca.
All talks in the series, which are free and open to the public, begin
at 7:30 p.m. in Mitchell Hall. Registration is optional but
recommended; visit the Eventbrite page for details.
This years series, which brings nationally known speakers to campus,
will look at how issues affect the Nov. 6 midterm elections and why
voter and civic engagement is important.
A special session, Delaware Debates, will be held at 6:30 p.m.,
Wednesday, Oct. 17, in Mitchell Hall, with debates by major party
candidates for Delawares U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate
seats.
Moderated by the CPCs founding director emeritus, Ralph Begleiter,
Delaware Debates 2018 requires a separate ticket for each of the two
debates. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the debate for Delawares House
seat beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the Senate debate beginning at 8 p.m.
For more information and to register for tickets, visit www.delawaredebates.org.
The director of National Agenda is Lindsay Hoffman, associate
director of the Center for Political Communication and associate
professor of communication. The series is supported by the Office of the
Provost.
Speakers and their topics are:
Sept. 12, Lauren Duca, Opinions Matter, co-sponsored by the
Department of Women and Gender Studies. Duca is best known for her 2016
Teen Vogue op-ed Donald Trump is Gaslighting America.
Sept. 26, Dave DeWalt, Cybersecurity Matters, co-sponsored
by UDs Cybersecurity Initiative. DeWalt, a 1986 UD alumnus, is widely
considered one of the most influential executives in technology and
cybersecurity.
Oct. 10, Gabe Fleisher, Young Voices Matter, co-sponsored by
the Department of Political Science and International Relations. At age
16, Fleisher is a voice of his generation as the publisher of the
political newsletter Wake up to Politics, which has more than 50,000
subscribers.
Oct. 24, Amberia Allen, Humor Matters, co-sponsored by UDs
Center for Black Culture. Allen writes for Comedy Centrals The Daily
Show with Trevor Noah and is an award-winning stand-up comedian.
Nov. 14, Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, Facts Matter,
co-sponsored by the Journalism Program and the Department of
Communication. The Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists
will reflect on the midterm election results.
From Hollywood to Reality film series
Alternating with the speaker series, classic feature films and
behind-the-scenes documentaries will examine the election process, with
films shown at 7 p.m. in UDs Morris Library Viewing Room.
Hosted by CPC Director Nancy Karibjanian, the film series is free and
open to the community, but seating is limited and registration is
required. Visit the Eventbrite page for details.
Films in the series are:
Sept. 19, Pay to Play documents comical corruption, follows political newcomers and uncovers intrigue.
Oct. 3, The American President is a romantic comedy-drama about a U.S. president and his lobbyist girlfriend.
Nov. 7, Weiner, a documentary, examines disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiners 2013 mayoral campaign.
Nov. 28, The Candidate is a 1972 feature film about an
idealistic young lawyer who runs for the Senate and finds himself up
against a political machine.
Voices Matter audio essay contest
Running in tandem with the National Agenda series, this years audio
essay contest encourages students to let their voices be heard on the
subject of the First Amendment.
Students can submit a two- to four-minute recorded essay about such
topics as hate speech, free speech, censorship and what the First
Amendment means to them.
For information, visit the Voices Matter website. Deadline for submission of essays is Friday, Nov. 30.
Make It Count campaign
The CPC has partnered with UDs Biden Institute to increase voter
registration and nonpartisan civic engagement across campus and
statewide.
Led by graduate and undergraduate UD students, the "Make It Count"
campaign seeks to inspire a culture of civic engagement. The campaign
will keep students informed and involved on relevant policy topics
through on-campus initiatives such as voter engagement drives,
facilitated living-room-style conversations on the issues of the day,
educational programs and on-campus events.
Students and faculty representatives will be at a number of campus
events this fall, including: National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 25,
Trabant Main area, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; National Agenda, Oct. 10 and Oct.
24, Mitchell Hall, 7-9:30 p.m.; Living Room Conversations, "To Vote or
Not to Vote?" Oct. 25, Trabant Theatre, 4:30-6 p.m.
Visit the Make It Count campaign website to learn more about voter engagement at UD.
The University has been recognized with a top score in a new
first-of-its-kind ranking of colleges by how they engage students in
voting.
"Out of the 1,488 schools included in our main rankings, only 58
received the top score," Washington Monthly magazine said in its Best Colleges for Student Voting list.
The rankings are based on four measures of a colleges commitment to encouraging voting by its students.
Article by Ann Manser; illustration by Lukas Emory
