News

Events planned for First Amendment Day

By Matt Neznanski
Graduate Assistant

The Greenlee School and Lee Enterprises will present First Amendment Day this year on Thursday, April 20.

The festivities begin with a kick-off lecture, "Stealing Reality: The Rise of the Right, the Fracture of News and Lessons Learned from Karl Rove," by University of Massachusetts Assistant Professor Bill Israel at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, in 1148 Gerdin Auditorium.

Plans for Thursday include a “Five Freedoms” march starting 10 a.m. at Ames City Hall and proceeding to Central Campus. Ames Mayor Ann Campbell and newly elected Government of the Student Body President Emily Jensen will join campus and city groups on the route.

At Central Campus, displays illustrating First Amendment freedoms, “soapbox” debates on topics such as intelligent design and political cartoons and a “Feast on the First Amendment” lunch provided in cooperation with VEISHEA will be served. Central campus events will take place 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Area high schools have also been invited to participate. A 1 p.m. workshop in 172 Hamilton Hall is planned to teach students and teachers how to organize First Amendment events of their own.

Related links: First Amendment Day returns to Central Campus Reza Aslan Web site NPR interview with Reza Aslan Brian Duffy Cartoons Bill Israel Bio Stories by Bill Israel

At 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union's Great Hall, Reza Aslan, author of “No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam,” will discuss the current conflict regarding Danish political cartoons and the clash of Islamic traditions and values with contemporary ideals of democracy and human rights.

Aslan was born in Iran and has studied religions at Santa Clara University, Harvard University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He was visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Iowa, where he holds an M.F.A. in fiction from the Writers’ Workshop.

His work has appeared in Slate, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report and the The Chronicle of Higher Education as well as academic journals.

Following the presentation, Brian Duffy, editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register and Greenlee School Associate Professor Barbara Mack, who teaches media law, will join Aslan in a roundtable discussion

Last updated: April 13, 2006
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