Skidmore Scope Magazine Annual Edition for 2017

28 SCOPE ANNUAL 2017 SPEAKERS ON SPEECH Introducing the scholars and practitioners on Scope ’s panel: Robert Boyers, professor of English, is the long- time editor of the thought and culture quarterly Salmagundi , now in its 52nd year. His most recent book is The Fate of Ideas: Seductions, Betrayals, Appraisals . Jennifer Delton, professor of history, teaches foreign policy, the Progressive era, the Cold War, conservatism, and African American history. Among her books is Rethinking the 1950s: How Anticom- munism and the Cold War Made America Liberal . Deborah Jacobs ’90, MALS ’95, executive director of the New Jersey ACLU for 13 years, now directs King County’s independent Office of Law Enforcement Oversight in Seattle. She is particularly dedicated to just policing, women’s safety, and First Amendment rights. Jay Jochnowitz ’78, a career journalist, has managed several desks for the Times Union in Albany, N.Y. For the past nine years he’s been editor of the TU ’s editorial page. He also serves as an advisor to the student-run Skidmore News. Juleyka Lantigua-Williams ’96 has been lead editor and producer for NPR’s Code Switch and a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine. Recently she launched an audio and video production company, Lantigua Williams & Co. Andrew Lindner ’03 is a Skidmore sociology professor who teaches courses on mass media, politics, and sport. His research centers on the impacts of the state, the market, and society on journalism. Pat Oles is a professor of social work and former dean of student affairs. His courses include “Purple Nation: Welfare and Politics” and “Social Justice and Social Policy.” He has written on eco- nomic change, tax reform, and restorative justice. Themba Shongwe ’18 is a business major origi- nally from Swaziland. He has served as the Stu- dent Government Association’s vice president for inclusion and outreach and also the African Heritage Awareness Club’s vice president. From the “Shades of Gray” forums and honors courses that began over a decade ago to this spring’s “It’s On Us” campaign led by student-athletes, Skidmore devotes substantial resources to modeling civil discourse, exam- ining freedoms and responsibilities in community life, putting politics into perspective, and building students’ critical thinking skills for participation in a diverse democracy. Last winter, for example, the president’s office helped bring to campus Frederick Lawrence, secretary of the national Phi Beta Kappa Society, a standard-bearer for freedom of inquiry and high standards of scholarship. Lawrence, former Brandeis University president and a civil-rights scholar at Yale and other top law schools, led a forum with Skidmore students, faculty, staff, and trustees titled “The Contours of Free Speech on Campus.” Throughout 2016 the Tang Museum partnered with several departments and programs to engage the on-campus and Saratoga-area communities in election-related events held in the museum’s A More Perfect Union exhibi- tion, which offered a contemplation of patriotism and democracy as well as a venue for civic gatherings. In that gallery space, two congressman from upstate New York, a Democrat and a Republican, discussed “What Hap- pened to Compromise?” with a PBS host as moderator; faculty from psy- chology to history held forums on campaigns, elections, and the presidency; and a TV-news-watching party on election night offered faculty-led context and conversation. Other dialogues and debates engaged faculty and students of every stripe in talking openly about the work of talking openly. Now Scope has asked a panel of Skidmore professors, alumni, and others to discuss freedom of speech from their perspectives as social and political scholars, professionals from law to journalism, and shapers of the campus climate. Here are their insights and arguments. President Trump has called news media an “enemy of the American people.” A congressional candidate assaulted a reporter who asked him a question. Social media pro- vide a vast, influential platform to share information and opinions— but also to harass and slander. On campuses across the country, debates are raging about free speech and political correctness. This is a charged moment for the First Amendment. >>

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