EVENT DETAILS

The Future of the Truth

The Forum for the Academy in the Public presents

Truth is the first casualty in war, and also in politics. This conference will look at how America views honesty and truth today, in light of the recent election and of ongoing trends in literature, law, and journalism. In the international sphere, we’ll also hear about truth, disinformation, and propaganda.

Conference Schedule

The conference will include the following events, all take place at the School of Law, EDU 1111, Berkeley Place.

Friday, February 3, 2017

3:30 pm Refreshments (coffee, iced tea and sweets)

4:00 pm Welcome: Julia Reinhard Lupton, Associate Dean for Research, UCI School of Humanities, and Amy Wilentz, Professor of Literary Journalism, UCI

4:30-5:30 pm Keynote address: Maggie Nelson, MacArthur Fellow, author of The Argonauts

5:30-6:30 pm Panel: Memoir and Fiction

Maggie Nelson
Viet Nguyen, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Sympathizer and UCI Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellow
Danzy Senna, novelist and essayist, author of You Are Free and Caucasia
Hector Tobar, New York Times Contributing Op-Ed Writer and author, Deep Down Dark

Moderated by Tom Lutz, Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books

Saturday, February 4, 2017

9:30 am Coffee and tea

10:00-11:30 am Panel: Journalism and Truth

Ruth Franklin, book critic and biographer, author of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, journalist and author, Random Family
Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker staff writer, former dean of Columbia School of Journalism
David Ulin, book critic (formerly of the L.A. Times) and author, Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles

Moderated by Barry Siegel, Director, UCI’s Literary Journalism Program

11:30 am Boxed lunches available on patio (preregistration required)

12:00-1:00 pm Lunch talk: Campaign Truths

Joel Benenson, Democratic pollster and chief strategist for the Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
Mike Murphy, Republican political consultant for John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Jeb Bush

Moderated by Adam Nagourney, Los Angeles Bureau Chief for the New York Times

1:30-3:00 pm Panel: Experts and Eyewitnesses: Truth in the Courtroom

Elizabeth Loftus, Distinguished Professor of Social Ecology, UCI
Jennifer Keller, Partner, Keller/Anderle, LLP
Jed Rakoff, federal district judge, Southern District of New York
Bobby Grace, Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles

Moderated by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, UCI School of Law

Coffee, tea, lemonade on the patio

3:15-4:45 pm Panel: Propaganda and Disinformation

Barbara Demick, former Beijing Bureau Chief, L.A. Times, award-winning author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Margaret Roberts, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UC San Diego
Olufunmilayo Arewa, Professor, UCI School of Law
Pardis Mahdavi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Pomona College

Moderated by Jeff Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History, UCI

4:45 pm Closing words and thanks

Future of the Truth Website