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event flyer

There will be a public program series organized for this Mellon-Sawyer Seminar throughout the 2026-27 academic year. Individual announcements for each event will be circulated a few weeks beforehand.

Fall 2026: Academic Freedom after 9/11

  • October 1, 5:00–7:00 PM: Jafari Sinclaire Allen, Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies, Columbia University. Public Lecture: “What is Utterly Precious” (Mosher Alumni House) 
  • October 16, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM: Nadine Naber, Director of Gender and Women’s Studies Program and Professor of Global Asian Studies, University of Illinois Chicago. “Liberate Your Research” workshop for graduate students (Girvetz 2320) 
  • November 5, 4:00–6:00 PM: Martha Biondi, Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Black Studies, Northwestern University; Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, UCLA; and Sohail Daulatzai, Professor Film and Media Studies, UC Irvine. Roundtable on Academic Freedom after 9/11 (Mosher Alumni House) 

Winter 2027: Locations of Difference

  • January 28, 4:00–6:00 PM: Hannah Allam, Reporter for ProPublica, and Patricia Peña Miranda, Faculty of Communication, Universidad de Chile. Roundtable on Independent Media and Knowledge Production (Library Instruction and Training Room 1312) 
  • February 18, 5:00–7:00 PM: Emily Drabinski, Associate Professor and Chair, School of Information Studies, Queens College, CUNY. Public Lecture: “Win the Library, Win the World” (Library Special Research Collections) 

Spring 2027: Campus Climate for Just Futures

  • April 8, 4:00–6:00 PM: Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies, Rice University, and Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History, Emerita, Yeshiva University. Roundtable on Challenges of Higher Education (Mosher Alumni House) 
  • May 7, 5:00–7:00 PM: Aslı Bâli, Howard M. Holtzmann Professor, Yale Law School; Noura Erakat, Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University; and Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University. Roundtable on Remaking the University (Mosher Alumni House) 
  • June 3, Closing Event: Naomi Klein, Professor of Climate Justice, University of British Columbia. Public Lecture on End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World *Information on time and location to be shared shortly.