Senator Markey and Congressman Kennedy to address justice reform in back-to-back forums
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Live 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Week 6: Partisanship v. Pandemic: Common Enemy, Disjointed Response
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. Its size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes-from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive-are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
Times of crisis require governments to cooperate and coordinate large-scale responses. Yet Congress and President Trump are inherently partisan actors in a federal system who must negotiate competing pressures of obtaining concrete results for constituents, while also not being seen as being too accommodating of political rivals. What have been the main takeaways from the politics of legislating in the era of COVID-19 pandemic? How have motives of major actors shifted or changed and how has this impacted the federal response? Does President Trump still dominate the GOP and what electoral outcomes might we see in November, given what current polling, favorability ratings, and climbing COVID cases and deaths tell us?
Wednesday, July 29th
LIVE 4 PM
PLEASE REGISTER TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Week 5: Migrants, Refugees & Fragile States: The Humanitarian Crisis and COVID-19
The COVID -19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. It’s size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes—from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive—are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating consequences for countries around the world. Refugees and migrants face challenges similar to, but even more dire than those of many of their host populations. Already impacted by a massive disruption in their lives, including greater levels of food insecurity, poverty, and woefully inadequate access to essential services that would help mitigate the health crisis, refugees and migrants face a grim future. Unfortunately, these fragile populations are often invisible in their suffering. Will COVID expose these issues? Will the crisis fuel greater conflict around the world as prices rise and incomes fall? Will the crisis transform into a call to action to increase health and social protections?
Wednesday, July 22nd
LIVE 4 PM
PLEASE REGISTER TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Week 4: Militarization of US Policy: Costs, Consequences, and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. Its size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes-from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive-are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
Many argue that the Trump Doctrine in foreign policy has been characterized by a retreat from global leadership in multilateral institutions, abandonment of traditional diplomacy, strained relationships with allies, and an enhanced projection of military strength. The response to coronavirus pandemic has been similar; an insistence on going solo. What have been the costs and consequences of an over-reliance of the militarization of US policy abroad and at home? What role should the military play in U.S. democracy and how has the pandemic impacted our ability to respond to national security threats, both traditional and new, such as COVID-19 and climate change?
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
LIVE 4 PM
PLEASE REGISTER TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Week 3: From Quorum to Proxy – Governing, Representing and Campaigning Remotely
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. It’s size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes-from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive-are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
This week, McGovern will sit down with Fisk to examine the changing landscape of governing, serving constituents, and running for office in a time of the global pandemic. McGovern and Fisk will explore how has Congress adapted to manage its business during the major crises facing the nation: COVID-19, its economic impact, and the growing movement for social justice. They also will explore to what extent new rules have impacted this vital work, what challenges Congress faces in responding to unprecedented times, and what will be the most likely next steps. They also will discuss what a virtual campaign looks like and how all of this will impact voting in remaining primaries and November’s General Election.
TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION AND REGISTER
Politics in the Time of Global Pandemic: {Week 2} Information and the Warfare – Framing Issues Around the COVID-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. It’s size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes-from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive-are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
Distribution of information in this global crisis plays a powerful role in shaping public understanding and behavior. The novelty of the virus itself means that scientific knowledge rapidly evolves and shifts based on new data. Where, how, and from whom do people get their information and misinformation? What impact does such information have on behavior?
Join us as we consider the challenges of reporting on and conveying “good” information about the pandemic to the general public. A panel of experts – Jonas Kaiser, Jennifer Kavanagh, and Felice Fryer – will examine the rapid decline in trust in public institutions, public figures, and the media and discuss the resulting impact on the health of not only citizens but of their democracy.
TO REGISTER AND TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/3215929566140/WN_50EGqNAoSU2dbqmLZq5qtQ
Politics in the Time of Global Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic is a global event unlike any other experienced in the contemporary era. It’s size, scope, reach, and implications are enormous, ongoing, and unequal. Outcomes-from how people all over the world will live their daily lives to whether democracy will survive-are all in question.
Come into our virtual classroom to delve deeper into the pandemic-related themes we will explore in this survey course for everyone.
Mahrukh Doctor, Vivien Schmidt, and Sebastián Royo, all experts with a global focus, will discuss the differential impact of the pandemic around the world, and the differential responses across nations, comparing countries, regions, and states in the context of democracy, populism, public trust, and compliance.
This Suffolk University lecture series presented with Ford Hall Forum and WGBH is designed to be a broad survey of themes most of interest to political scientists and public policy experts and is part of a novel online summer course for incoming Suffolk students.
REGISTER NOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
A MESSAGE FROM FORD HALL FORUM AT SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY
In this moment of sorrow and rage, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University mourns the death of George Floyd, a tragedy for his children, siblings, his friends, our nation, and the world. The Forum recognizes also the violent deaths of many others, among them Breonna Taylor,
Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Shaun Fuhr, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice. Insidious violence inflicted upon Black men, women, and children has continued for over 400 years.
Join us in September for the start of the new Ford Hall Forum program year, where we will engage in forums exploring social justice and human rights issues. Among the topics we seek to explore are the policing of Black men and women, the roots of American protest, the pandemic, the 2020 election, and economic, education, and health disparities among Black and Latinx Americans. The nation is on the precipice of a tipping point, and the only way to make it over the enormous hurdles that lie ahead is to have the difficult conversations to learn, to grow, and to advocate for change. That is what Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University does best.
WGBH: The New Normal- Coronavirus Polling & Policy Implications
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, WGBH Forum Network, and WGBH News Present:
The New Normal: Coronavirus Polling & Policy Implications
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Live at 7:00 pm
With prominent pollster David Paleologos, Director, Suffolk University Political Research Center, Rachael Cobb, associate professor and chair, Suffolk University Legal Studies and Political Science Department, Bob Seay, WGBH News transportation reporter, and Saraya Wintersmith, reporter, WGBH News. The evening’s moderator is Joe Mathieu, anchor and executive editor, WGBH’s Morning Edition.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, from how we work to how we view our elected officials. Pollster David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, takes a look at some of the most recent surveys conducted in Massachusetts and nationally to see how Bay Staters and Americans are handling the pandemic, what the new normal might look like, and the political implications of the pandemic’s fallout.
To register: https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZMjt5SEITw6_usI47BSnyA
WGBH News Forum
You’ve got questions, We’ve got experts
How will the pandemic impact elections in 2020?
Monday May 11th at 7pm
Click Here to Register
An afternoon with acclaimed filmmaker Kenneth Eng
Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum, Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies, and Communication, Journalism & Media Department present:
An afternoon with acclaimed filmmaker Kenneth Eng
Join us as we screen Eng’s award-winning documentary My Life in China. “Who am I?” Kenneth Eng once asked himself. He started finding answers by making this documentary about his father’s perilous flight from China during the Cultural Revolution to pursue the American Dream. This is a story of how migration is passed down from father to son, and ultimately asks the question, what does it mean to be both Chinese and American? The screening will be followed by a discussion with Eng and will be moderated by Micky Lee, PhD, associate professor, Communication, Journalism & Media Department, Suffolk University.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
3:05-4:20 pm
Samia Academic Center, Room 414
20 Somerset Street, Boston
Kenneth Eng is a director, editor, and executive producer. After graduating from Boston Latin School, Ken left for New York in 1994 to study film at the School of Visual Arts. His thesis Scratching Windows, a short documentary film about graffiti writers, was broadcast as part of the documentary series REEL NY on New York PBS. In 2001, Ken directed and edited Take Me to the River, a feature length documentary about the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India. Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball, his film about the famous Koshien Baseball Tournament in Japan was nationally broadcast on PBS and continues to play in Japan. In 2007, Ken was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship to launch My Life In China. Recently, he edited Tested for director Curtis Chin, and is currently collaborating with him on a film Our Chinatown about the challenges Chinatowns across America face. Ken is also involved in “The Great China Baseball Hunt,” a film about the rise of baseball in China.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
An Evening with author César Cuauhtémoc García Hernandez upon the publication of his new book, Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants.
Join Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and Cambridge Forum:
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
7:00 pm
First Parish Church
3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
A free reception will be hosted by the University of Denver at 5:30 pm. All are welcome.
For much of America’s history, we simply did not lock people up for migrating here. Yet over the last thirty years, the federal and state governments have increasingly tapped their powers to incarcerate people accused of violating immigration laws. As a result, roughly 400,000 people a year now spend some time locked up pending civil or criminal immigration proceedings. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández‘s new book takes a hard look at the immigration prison system’s origins and how it currently operates. It tackles the outsized presence of private prisons and how those on the political right continue, disingenuously, to link immigration imprisonment with national security risks and threats to the rule of law.
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is a professor of law at the University of Denver and an immigration lawyer. He runs the blog Crimmigration.com and regularly speaks on immigration law and policy issues. He has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and many other venues.
Praise for Migrating to Prison
“Migrating to Prison rips the veils off of the immigration detention system. García Hernández brings a sharp legal eye to showing how our immigration system has become so twisted that we take for granted the outrageous. If you want a crystal clear explanation of why we need to abolish immigration detention, this is the book for you.”
—Aviva Chomsky, author of Undocumented
Threats to the Press Around the World- Robert Mahoney
The Masterman Speaker Series on the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate and Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum welcome
Robert Mahoney,
Robert Mahoney,
Deputy Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists for a lecture on Threats to the Press Around the World
Around the world journalists face threats, false arrests, and violence. Here in the United States high-ranking government officials and politicians attack the press in increasingly strident terms. Join us as we welcome Robert Mahoney of the Committee to Protect Journalists to discuss the state of press freedom around the world and how rhetoric in the United States imperils journalists in other nations and emboldens their critics.
Tuesday, April 15, 2020 at 4:00 pm
First Floor Function Room
Sargent Hall
120 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02108
Reception to follow
About our speaker
Robert Mahoney is the Deputy Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. Mr. Mahoney joined CPJ in August 2005 as senior editor and became CPJ’s deputy director in January 2007. He has worked as a journalist in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He reported on politics and economics for Reuters news agency from Brussels and Paris in the late 1970s, and from Southeast Asia in the early 1980s. Mahoney covered South Asia from Delhi for three years from 1985, reporting on the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the civil war in Sri Lanka, and the fallout from the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. In 1988, he became Reuters bureau chief for West and Central Africa, based in the Ivory Coast and spending considerable time in Liberia covering the civil war. He served as Reuters Jerusalem bureau chief from 1990 to 1997, directing print and, later, television coverage of the Palestinian intifada, the Iraqi missile attacks on Israel, the Oslo peace process, and the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Mahoney worked as chief correspondent in Germany from 1997 to 1999 before moving to London to become news editor of politics and general news for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2004, he taught journalism for the Reuters Foundation in the Middle East, and worked as a consultant for Human Rights Watch.
About the Masterman Speaker Series
Some of the most polarizing and provocative issues of our time involve matters rooted in the First Amendment. Edward I. Masterman, JD ’50, LLD ’90 and his wife Sydell, established the Masterman Speaker Series on the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate to provide a forum for robust debate and exchange of ideas on freedom of the press and its attendant responsibilities. The Speaker Series brings together representatives from government, the legal profession, and the press for the purposes of informing, educating, and engaging those who care deeply about these issues.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
JOIN FORD HALL FORUM AT SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY AND CAMBRIDGE FORUM FOR A CONVERSATION WITH ANDREW BACEVICH UPON THE PUBLICATION OF HIS NEW BOOK, THE AGE OF ILLUSIONS: HOW AMERICA SQUANDERED ITS COLD WAR VICTORY.
THE AGE OF ILLUSIONS
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
7:00 pm
First Congregational Church
1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA
This event is free and open to the public.
Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University, comes to the forum to discuss his new book about the post-Cold war follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump. The forum will be moderated by journalist Christopher Lydon, host of Open Source on WBUR radio.
How, within a quarter of a century, did the United States end up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well, of course, the strangest presidency in American history?
HOW TO START A REVOLUTION
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University joins Cambridge forum for Two upcoming events:
How to Start a Revolution
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
7:00 pm
First Parish Church
1446 Massachusetts Avenue
Harvard Square Cambridge
Writers Lauren Duca and Martin Lukacs, author of The Trudeau Formula, discuss collective action and non-violent protest with members of the climate action group, Extinction Rebellion.
THE AGE OF ILLUSIONS
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
7:00 pm
First Parish Church
1446 Massachusetts Avenue
Harvard Square Cambridge
Andrew J. Bacevich comes to the forum to discuss his new book, The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered its Cold War Victory. How, within a quarter of a century, did the United States end up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well, of course, the strangest president in American history?
Hedrick Smith at Ford Hall Forum on Wednesday, October 9, 2019
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Championing a Cause: The Voice of Today’s Athletes
Championing a Cause: The Voice of Today’s Athletes
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
6:00-7:30 pm
Sargent Hall, Fifth Floor Commons, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
Today’s professional athletes have increasingly leveraged their powerful voices and the platforms their mediated profession provides. From raising money to combat major diseases to calling awareness to major societal issues, athletes have the power to influence opinion and affect change. While athletes have worked hard at their craft, reached the highest levels of their profession, and tapped the capital markets, some demand that athletes “shut up and dribble.” Would the same be demanded of any other professional who has reached the highest levels of his or her industry?
Join Ford Hall Forum as we host a unique and intimate conversation with some of the nation’s most charitable and vocal athletes and representatives from Boston’s business and non-profit community. The evening’s guests are Devin McCourty, acclaimed free safety, New England Patriots. Off the field, McCourty is deeply engaged in social activism on numerous topics including criminal justice and education reform. McCourty is one of the most visible leaders of the Players Coalition, a nonprofit organization governed by 12 NFL players, which is committed to raising awareness about social issues and advocating for change; Michael Bornhorst, Associate Vice President, Corporate Development and Special Events, Boston Children’s Hospital Trust; Rebekah Splaine-Salwasser, Executive Director, Red Sox Foundation/Take the Lead; and April Heinrichs, a US Women’s National Soccer Team legend. Heinrichs captained the tournament-winning first US women’s World Cup team in 1991 and coached the next generation of women’s soccer players including Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain at the World Cup and in the Olympics.
Register: click here.
“The Art of Leaving”
“The Art of Leaving”
Award-winning Israeli author Ayelet Tsabari will discuss her new intimate memoir, The Art of Leaving: Language, Longing, and Belonging, in this afternoon of conversation and selected readings from the book. The afternoon’s moderator is Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, associate professor, Communication, Journalism & Media Department, Suffolk University.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
12:15-1:30 p.m.
Poetry Center, Mildred Sawyer Library, Second Floor
73 Tremont Street, Boston
Author of the award-winning The Best Place on Earth and The Art of Leaving: Language, Longing, and Belonging, Ayelet Tsabari will speak of growing up Mizrahi in Israel, about re-finding and reclaiming that identity through writing and through extensive research into Yemeni culture and traditions. Tsabari will share some of the unique challenges she has faced as an immigrant author writing about Israel in English, her second language. This lecture will explore the many ways in which a writer’s cultural background, mother tongue, and origins influence and inform her writing, in terms of both content and style.
Praise for The Art of Leaving
The Art of Leaving is a marvel of a book, at once tender and fearless, from a writer at the peak of her creative powers.” – Kamal Al-Solaylee
About Ayelet Tsabari
Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a large family of Yemeni descent. She is the author of the memoir in essays The Art of Leaving. Essays from the book have won several awards including a National Magazine Award and a Western Magazine Award. Her first book, The Best Place on Earth, won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and was long listed to the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. The book was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a Kirkus Review Best Book of 2016, and has been published internationally. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Forward, and The National Post. She teaches creative writing at King’s College MFA in Creative Nonfiction and at Tel Aviv University.
An Evening with Etgar Keret, internationally acclaimed best-selling Israeli writer and award-winning filmmaker.
Ford Hall Forum presents:
An Evening with Etgar Keret, internationally acclaimed best-selling Israeli writer and award-winning filmmaker. The evening’s moderator is Michal Ben-Joseph Hirsch, assistant professor, Government Department, Suffolk University.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
6:00- 7:30 PM
Modern Theatre
525 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111
Internationally acclaimed for his short stories, Etgar Keret is hailed as the voice of young Israel. Keret’s books are bestsellers in Israel and have been published in over forty languages. His books include his memoir, The Seven Good Years, The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God, and Suddenly a Knock on the Door, which became an instant #1 bestseller in Israel. Keret’s new book of stories Fly Already won the prestigious Sapir Prize, and is forthcoming in English in September 2019. Keret’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Paris Review, among many other publications. He is a regular contributor to This American Life. In 2016, Keret was awarded The Charles Bronfman Prize, recognizing his work as inspiring Jewish Values and having global impact. As a filmmaker, Keret is the writer of several feature screenplays, including Skin Deep (1996), which won First Prize at several international film festivals and was awarded the Israeli Oscar.
Praise for Etgar Keret
“Etgar Keret is a genius…” —The New York Times
“A brilliant writer…completely unlike any writer I know. The voice of the next generation.” —Salman Rushdie
Safi Bahcall’s Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries.
March 20, 2019, 6-7:30 p.m. Sargent Hall, Fifth Floor Commons, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
Author Safi Bahcall will discuss his new book, Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries.
What do James Bond and Lipitor have in common? Why do traffic jams appear out of nowhere on highways? What can we learn about human nature and world history from a glass of water? Physicist and biotech entrepreneur Bahcall, reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about radical breakthroughs. Bahcall shows why groups will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them, just as flowing water will suddenly change into brittle ice. Mountains of print have been written about culture. Learn the small shifts in structure that control this transition, the same way that temperature controls the change from water to ice. The program will be moderated by Andrew McAfee, co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and the associate director of the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, which studies the ways information technology affects businesses and society.
Praise for Loonshots
“This book has everything: new ideas, bold insights, entertaining history and convincing analysis. Not to be missed by anyone who wants to understand how ideas change the world.”
~ Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow and winner of the Nobel Prize
Author Safi Bahcall
The Lowell Institute
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