National Political Experts to Discuss 2020 Presidential Election as Part of LSU Ogden Honors College Fall Speakers Series

BATON ROUGE—With fewer than 60 days until the 2020 Presidential Election, the LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College will host conversations with four national political experts in its Fall Speaker Series, which kicks off Sunday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m. CT with Princeton University professor, historian and CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer. The three-part virtual series is presented in partnership with the LSU Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs.

LSU professor Robert Mann will host Sunday’s discussion with Zelizer, who has authored and edited 19 books on American political history. His latest, “Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and The Rise of the New Republican Party,” will serve as a launch pad for dialogue on the origins and trajectory of America’s partisan national politics. November’s presidential election will ground the conversation.

“In my quarter century as a college teacher and administrator, I’ve never seen this much interest in a presidential election,” said Jonathan Earle, dean of the LSU Ogden Honors College. “And I think that’s a good thing: Undergraduate students realize how instrumental a president is in solving—and, in some cases, causing—problems for young people. These guest speakers will be a great resource for our students to hear from, especially during a campaign that will be conducted mostly virtually.”

Following Zelizer and Mann’s series launch are October and November installments with more political heavyweights. All events will take place via Zoom on Sundays at 7 p.m. CT. There is no cost to attend.

·       Sunday, Sept. 13 | Mann will host Julian Zelizer, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton School of Public & International Affairs. Join at https://lsu.zoom.us/j/97249443763. 

·       Sunday, Oct. 18 | Jonathan Earle will host Katie Glueck, a New York Times national politics reporter, and Geoff Earle, deputy U.S. political editor for DailyMail.com. Glueck previously covered politics for McClatchy’s Washington bureau and Politico, and Geoff Earle is the former Washington bureau chief for the New York Post. Join at https://lsu.zoom.us/j/92095056277.

·       Sunday, Nov. 8 | LSU professional-in-residence and former New York Times editor Len Apcar will host Toluse “Tolu” Olorunnipa, a White House correspondent for The Washington Post, who has covered the White House since 2015 and regularly appears on CNN, CBS, PBS, BBC and NPR. Join at https://lsu.zoom.us/j/95112758399.

“This presidential election is vitally important to the direction of the country, and we need to work as hard as possible to make sure young people are engaged and informed,” said Mann, who holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication. “This series aims to equip our students to ask informed, intelligent questions as they make their decisions in this election.”

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The Ogden Honors College, established in 1992, is a vibrant, diverse, and prestigious community for high-achieving students on LSU’s campus. The Ogden Honors College provides students — from all majors and senior colleges — with an opportunity to enhance their education through an interdisciplinary curriculum bolstered by service, leadership, fellowship, research, and study abroad opportunities.

The Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs is partnership-driven, action-oriented and dedicated to exploring contemporary issues at the intersection of mass communication and public life. Its interdisciplinary approach draws together experts from diverse fields to advance research and dialogue. The intent is to inspire our communities to think deeply, take action, develop solutions and broaden knowledge. Underlying the Center’s endeavors is to strengthen and advance the Manship School’s national and state leadership in media and politics.