NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In an age of instant polling, Internet chatter
and the 24-hour news cycle, what influence will the media have on the
2004 presidential election?
That question and more will be explored during Vanderbilt
University’s 2004 Impact Symposium, a three-day event bringing speakers
of national prominence to the University’s campus.
"Impact 2004: The Media’s Election?" will feature former U.S. Rep.
J.C. Watts on Monday, Feb. 16, and CNN Crossfire co-hosts Tucker
Carlson and Paul Begala on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in a pair of lectures open
to the public. The events on both nights begin at 7 p.m. in
Vanderbilt’s Langford Auditorium. Tickets are free for Vanderbilt
students and $10 for the general public available through the Sarratt
box office or any TicketMaster outlet.
On Wednesday, Feb.
18, a panel of Vanderbilt professors will convene for a wrap-up
discussion of the topics addressed by the Impact speakers. The
discussion begins at 7 p.m. in the Sarratt Student Center cinema.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Vanderbilt’s first Impact
Symposium, one of the oldest university lecture series of its caliber
in the nation. Impact began in 1964 when a group of Vanderbilt students
saw the need to increase the campus’ exposure to current issues by
providing a symposium in which intellectually challenging-and sometimes
controversial-speakers could be heard.
Impact met with the most controversy during its early years. In
1965, Vanderbilt students burned a cross in protest of the appearance
of Alabama governor and desegregation foe George Wallace. In 1966,
Impact was accused of bias for inviting right-winger Barry Goldwater to
campus during the height of the Vietnam War.
But in 1967, the program dispelled perceptions of a conservative
bias and provoked its most significant controversy to date by inviting
Beat poet Allen Ginsburg, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely
Carmichael, honorary prime minister of the Black Panther party, for a
symposium under the theme "The Individual in American Society."
Members of the Nashville press and the Tennessee state senate led
anti-Carmichael protests and called for censure of the Impact program
and threatened lost contributions to the University.
In spite of the early controversy, then-Chancellor Alexander Heard
insisted each year’s program go on as planned. Heard reflected in 1996:
"It required several successive Impacts, and the vehement protests they
precipitated, before the principle of open forum expression and free
debate became accepted as necessary in an authentic university."
Impact and Chancellor Heard were commended across the nation in 1967 for their protection of free speech.
With the national attention that Impact drew, organizers were able
to attract increasingly prominent speakers. In 1968, Robert Kennedy
drew a record attendance of 16,000 people from more than 100 college
delegations across the United States. Over the years, successive Impact
programs have brought speakers such as George McGovern, Bella Abzug,
Gen. Omar Bradley, Tom Brokaw, Robert McNamara, Jesse Jackson, former
presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush, and former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to the Vanderbilt campus.
This year, Impact welcomes J.C. Watts, former four-term U.S.
representative from Oklahoma. While serving in Congress, Watts was
elected chairman of the Republican Conference, the fourth-ranking
Republican leadership position in the House of Representatives. Watts
spoke at the 1996 Republican National Convention, gave the Republican
Party’s response to President Clinton’s 1997 State of the Union
Address, and was honorary co-chairman at the 2000 Republican National
Convention. He retired from Congress in 2002 and now serves as chairman
of the J.C. Watts Companies, which implements business development,
communications and public affairs strategies for national and
international corporations.
Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala are co-hosts of the popular political
debate program Crossfire, seen each weekday on CNN. Carlson provides
commentary "from the right," as he squares off against Begala "from the
left."
Carlson is a political analyst for CNN and a longtime newspaper and
magazine writer. His book, Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My
Adventures in Cable News, was published in 2003. Carlson is set to host
a half-hour prime time weekly series on PBS scheduled to begin airing
in June.
Begala was a counselor to President Clinton and one of the
administration’s principal public spokesmen. He is a partner with James
Carville in the political consulting firm Carville & Begala and
served as a senior strategist for the Clinton-Gore presidential
campaign in 1992. In addition to his duties at CNN, Begala is a
research professor of government and public policy at Georgetown
University.
For more information about Impact 2004, contact Sophie Moery at
430-5433. For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the News Service
homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/News.
Media contact: Kara Furlong, (615) 322-NEWS
Kara.c.furlong@vanderbilt.edu