4/11/2022 COVID Update: The State of Maine no longer requires masking or proof of vaccination to attend any public events, but individual venues are free to do so. For the latest information, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the State of Maine’s COVID site.

The Holocaust and Other 20th-Century Genocides

Room 122, Diamond Bldg., Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

In this lecture, Eric D. Weitz, dean of humanities and arts and distinguished professor of history at The City College of New York, argues that we need to understand the Holocaust not as a singular, unique event but as one of a number of genocides carried out by states in the 20th century. To compare […]

Free

Lives Still in Limbo: DACAmented and Navigating Uncertain Futures

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Roberto G. Gonzales is professor of education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research centers on contemporary processes of immigration and social inequality and stems from theoretical interests at the intersection of race and ethnicity, immigration, and policy. His book, Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America (University of California Press), is based on an […]

Free

Lovejoy Convocation Honoring Chuck Plunkett

Lorimer Chapel, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Former Denver Post editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett will receive Colby’s 2018 Lovejoy Award for courageous journalism for his outspoken commitment to local journalism. Plunkett’s stance against the Denver Post’s owners, Alden Global Capital, led to his resignation from his post. He criticized the new owners for abandoning the core mission of the newspaper in […]

Free

Fall 2018 Cotter Debate: Trade Wars

Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

We are now in a full-blown trade war. Unilateral actions by the Trump Administration targeting steel and aluminum imports even hit political allies; ever-escalating tariffs on imports from China were quickly followed by retaliatory actions targeting politically sensitive sectors and goods. What will be the economic and political fallout of these actions? Will they help […]

Free

Ranked Choice Voting: Can it Work for the 2020 Presidential Election?

Room 122, Diamond Bldg., Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Rob Richie, president and CEO of FairVote, will speak on ranked choice voting and efforts to make it apply to presidential primaries or caucuses (and the general election) in Maine. Richie has played a key role in advancing, winning, and implementing electoral reforms at the local and state levels. He has been involved in implementing ranked […]

Free

People, Borders, and Walls: Immigration Policy from Obama to Trump

Room 122, Diamond Bldg., Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Alejandro Mayorkas, Partner, WilmerHale, former Deputy Secretary, Homeland Security, and a Colby parent, rolled out DACA under President Obama. Before joining WilmerHale, Mr. Mayorkas served as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, where he managed some of the most complex and critical responsibilities of government, including preventing and responding to terrorist attacks on US soil, enhancing […]

Free

Leveraging Social Marketing for Reproductive Health

Bobby Silberman Lounge, Cotter Union, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Join the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Jennifer Pope ’96, director, family planning and reproductive health at Population Services International. Pope provides technical assistance to country programs providing life-saving products, clinical services, and behavior change communications that empower the world’s most vulnerable populations to lead healthier lives. She has more than 15 years of experience […]

Free

Leading Diverse Organizations: Lessons from Military Commanders

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

The military is one of the most diverse American institutions; success is a function of bringing people from different backgrounds and perspectives together to achieve a common goal. How do military leaders promote inclusivity? How are diverse talents identified? What gets in the way of leading a diverse organization? Hear LCDR Melissa Maclin ’98, Naval […]

Free

The Diversity Bargain

Robins Room, Roberts Building, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Natasha Warikoo is an expert on racial and ethnic inequality in education. Her most recent book, The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities, illuminates how undergraduates attending Ivy League universities and Oxford University conceptualize race and meritocracy. The book emphasizes the contradictions, moral conundrums, and tensions on campus related […]

Free

Populism and Double Standards: Growing Challenges to Human Rights in the Americas

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Please join the Goldfarb Center to hear José Miguel Vivanco, one of the nation’s experts on human rights in Latin America, give this year's Senator George J. Mitchell Distinguished International Lecture. Over the last 70 years, the international community has reached a key consensus on human rights issues, ranging from torture to freedom of expression, from women’s […]

Free

Engaging Race, Strengthening Community, Sustaining Democracy

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Race continues to play a fundamental role in shaping economic, social, and political life in the United States and across the world. Yet many Americans have limited knowledge of the historical and contemporary processes that account for racial inequality. As a result, few people are equipped to recognize and confront racial inequities in their own lives and communities. Americans’ collective inability to conscientiously contend with race enables systems of oppression, […]

Free

Putin, Russia, and the Media: Journalism in Contemporary Russia

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

At least 21 journalists have been killed in Russia since Putin became president in 2000, and 58 since the early 1990s. Also given state control of the media, renewed protests against the administration, and growing economic and political problems at home, what are the prospects for journalists in present-day Russia who wish to write about […]

Free

The Toll of Tragedy: Newsrooms Under Stress, Communities Under Attack

Robins Room, Roberts Building, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Journalists hold deep commitments to serve their communities, even during the darkest moments. In Annapolis, Md., this meant giving their lives when their newsroom was attacked. In Pittsburgh, journalists covering the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting dealt with their trauma as well as that of Pittsburgh as it was their neighbors and friends who were […]

Free

2019 Lovejoy Award

Lorimer Chapel, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

The 67th Lovejoy Award will honor the journalists who sacrificed their lives in 2018. The event will feature a discussion with Martin Smith, a veteran filmmaker and journalist who recently produced a Frontline documentary on the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and Hala Al-Dosari, the Washington Post’s inaugural Jamal Khashoggi Fellow and a […]

Free

Covering the Campaigns: The Media’s Role in a Chaotic World

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

How can we make sense of the byzantine world of politics framing the 2020 presidential and congressional elections? Join former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who served 16 terms in the United States House of Representatives as one of the most outspoken and thoughtful Members of Congress, and Hannah Dineen ’17, weekend anchor and political reporter […]

Free

Can American Government Institutions Respond to Current Threats to American Democracy?

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Democracies around the world — in Brazil and Venezuela, Hungary, Turkey, and Great Britain, and elsewhere — have been challenged by popularly elected leaders who have acted far outside of traditional democratic norms. This year’s first Cotter Debate, sponsored by the Goldfarb Center, addresses whether American governmental institutions are capable of responding to the threats […]

Free

Infectious Disease and Policy Management Panel

Room 122, Diamond Bldg., Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Join the Goldfarb Center and the Goldfarb Student Engagement Committee for a panel discussion on infectious disease and policy management. Panelists include Gail Carlson, associate professor of environmental studies, Susan Childers, instructor of biology, Walter Hatch, associate professor of government, and Laura Seay, assistant professor of government, and the discussion will be moderated by GSEC […]

Free

Wealth Inequality in America: What It Looks Like and Why It Happens

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

The wealth gap between the haves and the have-nots is at an all-time high, and the disparity is even larger among marginalized sects of the population. In line with the Goldfarb Center’s theme this year, Associate Professor of Sociology Christel Kesler will examine the influence of various policies in the growing and shrinking of the wealth gap in the United States. […]

Free

Connections between Climate Change, Food Insecurity, and Conflict

Parker-Reed Room, Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, Colby College Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, ME

Join Kimberly Flowers, executive director of the Goldfarb Center, for this lecture. As the climate crises worsen we are simultaneously seeing a rise in global hunger, unprecedented humanitarian need, and increasingly protracted conflicts. Flowers will unpack the considerable threat that climate change is having on both political stability and food systems, particularly in fragile states. She […]

Free

Recurring

COVID Chat Series

Want to ask members of Congress questions about the pandemic response? The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs on Instagram (@GoldfarbCenter)  launched a live speaker series with Senator Angus King. Engage in a discussion about government policies and the coronavirus pandemic. The interviews with congressional and state leaders will be hosted by Kimberly Flowers, the new […]

Free

Middle East Conundrum

George J. Mitchell Distinguished Lecture with Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer Join the Goldfarb Center for the George J. Mitchell Distinguished International Lecture. The Middle East has confounded America’s diplomats for decades—authoritarian governments, civil strife and violence, economic distress, wars, and terrorism. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, the former ambassador to Israel and Egypt and currently the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of […]

Free

Race in the Criminal Injustice System

A renowned lawyer who has been fighting for justice for almost 40 years, Jeffery Robinson is the deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) national office and director of the ACLU's Trone Center for Justice and Equality, which houses the organization's work on criminal and racial justice issues. He is a dynamic, […]

Free

U.S. Presidential Leadership During Times of Crisis

Online Event ME

From left to right: Andrew Rudalevige, Tamara Keith, and Nicholas Jacobs. The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College is hosting a virtual public panel discussion to discuss U.S. Presidential Leadership During Times of Crisis. The panel will discuss the Trump and Biden responses to the global pandemic as well as the responses of […]

Free

Procedural Justice in Policing: The Case of Stockton, California

Online Event ME

Join the Goldfarb Center for a virtual lecture by Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology Neil Gross on criminal justice reform, focused on the potential and limitations of the procedural justice model. Procedural justice is the idea that police, prosecutors, courts, and other representatives of the state should do everything in their power to ensure […]

Free

Deepening the Divide: How the Pandemic Exacerbates Disparities

Online Event ME

The Goldfarb Center is hosting a virtual panel of experts to discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected marginalized communities, particularly communities of color in the United States. From misinformation to vaccine access, our guest speakers will discuss the disparities that became clearer and wider by the pandemic and solutions to address the divide. […]

Free
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