Park Distinguished Visitor Opportunities for Campus Community

02/17/04

Michael Eric Dyson -- an award-winning author, cultural critic, social analyst, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, radio-commentator, ordained Baptist minister, and acclaimed scholar -- will be on campus from Monday, February 23, through Wednesday, February 25, as the Park Distinguished Visitor.

The campus community is invited to participate in a variety of activities surrounding his visit. To learn more about Dyson and his time on campus, see the news release, "Renowned African American Scholar and Social Critic Will Visit Ithaca College."

Welcoming Reception
An intimate opportunity to meet and greet Michael Eric Dyson. Exclusively for the campus community.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Park 220

Public Lecture
"The Race against Terror, the Terror of Race: Historical Amnesia, Racial Resistance, and Critical Media Literacy"
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
7:30 p.m.
Ford Hall, James J. Whalen Center for Music

The public lecture will be followed by a catered reception and book signing. Books will be available for purchase.

Master Classes
Register to attend his master classes, listed below, by contacting April Korpi via e-mail or at 4-1789. Pre-registration is required for all students, staff, and faculty.

"From Jay-Z to Michael Jackson: Black Popular Culture and the American Media"
Monday, February 23, 2004
9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
Park 220

Black popular culture has left an indelible mark on American, indeed global, culture. Black achievements in music (especially hip-hop culture), sports, film, and the fashion industry have profoundly affected the cultural landscape. How has the media reacted to, and reflected on, the makers and meanings of black popular culture? How are the trials and tribulations of prominent black popular cultural figures, from Kobe Bryant to Michael Jackson, addressed in the media? How does race figure in the framing of discussions about black identity in mainstream media? These and many other questions will be addressed in this examination of the interactions, disconnections, and eruptions between black popular culture and American media.

"I Got You Covered? Jayson Blair, Affirmative Action, and the Color(ing) of Journalism"
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Park 220

With the recent fiasco around Jayson Blair -- the black New York Times reporter whose acts of journalistic deceit lead to his firing, and to the toppling of Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd, the paper's editor and managing editor, respectively -- the American journalistic community faced a predictable, if unwarranted, crisis of purpose in regard to color.

Many branches of the media, through hand-wringing or finger-pointing, treated the story as a referendum on affirmative action: Does the slip-shod or dishonest work of minority journalists get a pass because of white liberal guilt? And is affirmative action lowering standards by giving opportunities to journalists of color? Moreover, journalists of color were put on the defensive because the problem of one journalist became the problem of all journalists of color. At the same time, few journalists examined the bias against affirmative action in the media: it is often portrayed as "racial preferences," an unexamined assumption that tips the debate in favor of its opponents.

How does affirmative action operate in American journalism? How do racial preferences for white men continue to shape how news media cover race and the issue of affirmative action? How does the burden of representation weigh on minority journalists? These and other provocative questions will be addressed.