Public Affairs (Audio)

As voters prepare to head to the polls on Election Day, join the Goldman School of Public Policy and Cal Performances for a critical look at the moment we’re in, the issues that have shaped and led us to this year’s tumultuous election, and the future of American democracy. UC Berkeley experts from former presidential administrations—Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security under the Obama administration (2009-2013); Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration (1993-1997); and Maria Echaveste, former Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Chief of Staff under the Clinton Administration (1998-2001)—as well as PolicyLink founder-in-residence and Chief Vision Officer for the Goldman School of Public Policy’s new Democracy Policy Initiative, Angela Glover Blackwell. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40302]

Fareed Zakaria, host of the renowned CNN program “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” talks about how to maintain peace in the post-Cold War era. He examines what he calls the geopolitical revolution that's taking place today and compares it with the unusual state of peace that existed from 1989 until the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - a time without constant and sustained geopolitical rivalry and tension. He looks at current state of conflict and tension, especially with China. He is joined by Stephen Hadley, former National Security Advisor. This talk is part of the the 2024 Susan Shirk Lecture on U.S.-China Relations at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy. In its sixth year, the forum on U.S.-China Relations is the only American leadership meeting focused exclusively on China and U.S.-China relations. This year’s theme is “Widening the Aperture: U.S.-China Relations in the Global Context.” Series: "Global Policy and Strategy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40146]

Witness the resilience of Isleton, California, as they pioneer a groundbreaking, community-based flood insurance program aimed at fostering recovery and climate resilience. This initiative, led by UC Davis researchers, could revolutionize disaster preparedness, offering fast, flexible support post-flood and investing in long-term sustainability. Series: "UC Davis News" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 40177]

How did Ronald Reagan’s vision of the American Dream lead to Donald Trump’s success? Looking back to 1983, Diane Winston, professor of journalism and communication at the University of Southern California, discusses how evangelical religion, the news media, and social turmoil culminated in MAGA’s Second Coming. Winston shows that many journalists uncritically adopted Reagan’s religious rhetoric and broadcast his otherwise unpopular evangelical ideas about limited government and individual responsibility. Winston’s lecture is based on her recent book, Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40173]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps’ political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

In this program, Russell M. Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, explores COVID-19 racism against Asian Americans, which led to what he terms a period of “collective racial trauma.” Twenty-five peer-reviewed articles have since documented the deleterious impacts of direct and indirect racism on the mental health of Asian Americans. Yet Asian Americans have been resilient in the face of this trauma, and utilized their ethnic and cultural wealth as buffers against anti-Asian hate. Jeung identifies three key ways that Asian Americans responded to this trauma and even grew from this painful time. Asian Americans’ posttraumatic growth, the positive psychological change after trauma incidents, is also be detailed. Jeung is the author of many books and articles on race and religion. In 2020, he co-founded Stop AAPI Hate to track instances of bias, harassment, and violence against AAPI people during Covid-19 and to fight racism. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39867]

Across the United States, homelessness has been on the rise. In California, there have been over 181,000 people without a stable place to call home—about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers continued to rise as earnings dropped and the housing affordability crisis worsened. What interventions have prevented people from becoming homeless? What lessons have we learned from local, regional, and statewide efforts to reduce unsheltered homelessness in the Bay Area and beyond? The Terner Center for Housing Innovation, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and a diverse panel of cross-sector experts and advocates collaborated for a discussion on reducing poverty and addressing homelessness in California. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39849]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps’ teaching of ethics and civic values in the classroom and beyond. The panel consists of Katya Armistead, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Student Life at UCSB and co-directs the Civic Engagement Scholars Program, Tim Kring, a screenwriter whose work focuses on themes of interconnectivity and global consciousness, and Shawn Landres, a civic strategist and a Senior Fellow at UCLA Luskin. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39719]

Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King is a global thought leader, peace advocate, and CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), which was founded by her mother as the official living memorial to the life, work, and legacy of her father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As part of the Helen Edition Lecture Series, Dr. King talks with Cheryl Anderson, Dean of UC San Diego's School of Public Health, about her work educating youth and adults around the world about the nonviolent principles and strategies modeled by her parents. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39523]

Alessandro Duranti, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology at UCLA, presents archival footage he filmed of Walter Capps' 1996 campaign for U.S. Congress to analyze how the political candidate framed his choice to run for office. Using semantic and narrative analyses, Duranti shows how Capps refined his campaign announcement to better generate voter enthusiasm and how Capps' public and private comments about the campaign reflected his ethical and political values. Capps was elected to Congress in 1996, and died in October 1997 after serving 10 months in office. Duranti became a close friend of the Capps family during his year-long ethnographic research, and he reflects on the role of family in Capps' life and campaign. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39720]

As part of a special series celebrating the legacy of humanist and professor Walter H. Capps, this program examines Capps’ scholarly contributions and the study of religion today, featuring renowned scholars of religion who were Walter’s graduate students: Tomoko Masuzawa, Professor Emerita of History and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, Julie Ingersoll, Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Florida, and Sarah McFarland Taylor, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Northwestern University. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39707]

As part of a special series celebrating the legacy of humanist and professor Walter H. Capps, this program examines Capps’ scholarly contributions and the study of religion today, featuring renowned scholars of religion who were Walter’s graduate students: Edward Linenthal, Professor Emeritus of History, Indiana University Bloomington and Wendy M. Wright, Professor Emerita of Theology, Creighton University. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39706]

In this program, Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, examines how police in the neoliberal era–in tandem with other state and corporate entities—have become engines of capital accumulation, government revenue, gentrification, the municipal bond market, the tech and private security industry—in a phrase, the profits of death. Kelley argues the police don’t just take lives; they make life and living less viable for the communities they occupy. The growth of police power has also fundamentally weakened democracy and strengthened “thanatocracy”—rule by death– especially with respect to Black communities. Kelley says these same communities have produced a new abolition democracy, organizing to advance a different future, without oppression and exploitation, war, poverty, prisons, police, borders, the constraints of imposed gender, sexual, and ableist norms, and an economic system that destroys the planet while generating obscene inequality. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39780]

In this program, Lerone Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, discusses his recent book, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, which reveals how Hoover and his FBI teamed up with leading white evangelicals and Catholics to bring about a white Christian America by any means necessary. His research draws on thousands of newly declassified FBI documents, including a civil lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for FBI files on Billy Graham. Martin takes readers from the pulpits and pews of small-town America to the Oval Office, and from the grassroots to denominational boardrooms. In this talk, Martin transforms how we understand the FBI, white evangelicalism, and our nation’s entangled history of religion and politics. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39809]

The 2021-2022 term of the U.S. Supreme Court is widely considered to be the most consequential in living memory. Bruen, West Virginia v. EPA, Dobbs—the Court’s rulings in these controversial cases weakened gun restrictions, hobbled the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to fight climate change, and overturned the constitutional protection for abortion rights nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade. In The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, Brennan Center for Justice president Michael Waldman examines the term’s major cases, the meaning of “originalism”—a new, extreme method of interpreting the Constitution—and offers proposals for reform. Join Waldman and Maria Echaveste, President and CEO of the Opportunity Institute and former senior White House official, for an in-depth look at the tumultuous 2021-2022 term and a discussion of how these decisions will affect every American for generations to come. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39848]

In this program, Professor Martin Hilbert, Chair of Computational Social Sciences at UC Davis, discusses AI and ethical policy-making. He looks at the tradeoffs between unimaginable wealth and existential risks, and new roles for human minds. Series: "UC Center Sacramento" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 39708]

Prominent journalist E.J. Dionne, known for his op-eds in The Washington Post and essays in Commonweal Magazine, advocates for bridging societal divides by addressing issues like social isolation and loneliness. As part of the Burke Lectureship at UC San Diego, Dionne, a distinguished professor at Georgetown University, invites audiences to contemplate solutions transcending political boundaries. Joining Dionne is Dean Nelson, journalism professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, and Edward Watts, history professor at UC San Diego. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39522]

UC San Diego is home to an array of campus gardens that promote education and the growth of sustainable food and local produce. Learn more about the green spaces where students and staff come together to cultivate community, sustainability and belonging. Videos by Michael Foster and Daniel Orren. [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39868]

Placing the U.S. in comparative perspective, Daniel Ziblatt, professor of government at Harvard University, discusses uniquely American counter-majoritarian institutions. Ziblatt is also director of the Transformations of Democracy group at Berlin’s WZB Social Science Center. He is the author of four books, including "How Democracies Die," co-authored with Steve Levitsky, a New York Times best-seller. His newest book co-authored with Steven Levitsky is entitled "Tyranny of the Minority." Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39852]

In this program, Professor Matthew Harding distills the current state of the economic literature on AI, explores the major industries in California that are likely to be impacted by AI, and considers gaps that could hinder California’s ability to manage and harness the potential benefits of an AI-led boom. Series: "UC Center Sacramento" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 39652]