By Erasmus Baxter
The role that the media has played in the 2016 presidential election has been something for the history books. Many have said that media, particularly cable television, is responsible for everything from political polarization to the rise of Donald Trump.
This is one of the pressing issues that will be discussed in a series of lectures and panels November 14 – 16 at the 2016 Ralph Munroe Seminar for Civic Education.
Vernon Johnson is the director of the Ralph Munro Institute for Civic Education and a political science professor at Western. He says that for the first time the seminar will feature a keynote speaker as well as panel discussions.
“We thought we’d try and take another step up this year,” he said.
George Washington University Associate Professor Danny Hayes will be the keynote speaker. He will talk about the role of the media in this year’s presidential election campaign. Hayes is a leading authority on media and politics, according to Johnson.
“Some of his work is co-authored with women scholars and has to do with how the media portrays women in politics,” Johnson said. “With Clinton on the ticket I’m hoping he’ll have some interesting things to say about that after the election.”
Hayes will speak at 7 p.m. at the Mount Baker Theatre’s Harold and Ilene Walton Theatre for around 45 minutes and will take questions afterwards.
Choosing the Mount Baker Theatre for the talk was an intentional move to try and get more community engagement, according to Johnson.
“Part of the institute’s mission of civic education starts with engaging students in a way that encourages them to be active citizens when they leave the university,” he said. “[It is] also to provide programing that informs the larger community, civic or civil society.”
While the keynote is at the Mount Baker Theatre, all the panels will be on campus in the Old Main Theatre.
“Hopefully, with the keynote being Monday night and the panels the next two days, it’ll be a bit of a teaser to get people up on the campus,” he said.
On November 15, there will be a panel entitled “Money in Politics and Campaign Finance” from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and one called “Media, Elections and Public Perception” from 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
On November 16, there will be one on the homelessness crisis from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and another on mass incarceration from 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
“We will have policy makers and journalists, many of the panels will have a Western professor or two,” Johnson said.
The panel on the homelessness crisis will focus on Bellingham and will include a member of the Opportunity Council, a local nonprofit that combats homelessness.
The mass incarceration panel features someone who some may not expect to speak out on the topic, a republican state senator. Their inclusion demonstrates how mass incarceration is becoming a bipartisan issue due to the massive costs involved, Johnson said.
This will be the fourth year the institute has put on the seminar. The institute is also starting a week-long summer program to educate K-12 teachers about the history of civil rights struggles in the area. It will be available to Western students as a 400-level summer quarter class.