Journalist John Stossel and political activist Ralph Nader spoke March 30, 2010, as part of the university’s annual Impact Symposium.
The theme of this year’s lectures is “The Future of Capitalism.” Nader and Stossel spoke in a point-counterpoint discussion titled “Business or the Consumer First?”
Watch video of Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney speaking on “American Capitalism in the World” March 31.
This year’s Impact Symposium continues a long-standing tradition at Vanderbilt. Impact, one of the oldest university lecture series of its caliber in the nation, began in 1964 when a group of Vanderbilt students saw the need to increase the campus’s exposure to current issues by providing a symposium in which intellectually challenging – and sometimes controversial – speakers could be heard.
In 1968, the series passed a milestone when 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 the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., George McGovern, Robert McNamara, Jesse Jackson, former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to campus. Last year’s event featured Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Israeli legislator Natan Sharansky.
Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Programming Board.
Contact: Princine Lewis (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu