Recent name-calling features angry disputes about what is factual and what is fake. Making sense of these claims and counterclaims requires us to think about the social processes by which truth and fakery are determined. Joel Best is a Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. He is a former editor of the journal Social Problems and a past-president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He has published more than 25 books and received the American Sociological Association’s Public Understanding of Sociology Award in 2016 

Sponsored by Critical Engagements, the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, the Department of Journalism, and the Department of Psychology.

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Please join us on Tuesday, February 18 for “Climate Denial Isn’t About Science: Like Fake News It’s a Symptom, Not a Cause,” a presentation by Dr. Alan Rudy.

For all those whose boats were floated—and for many more who aspired to rise—during the post-war period from 1945 to 1985, free inquiry, free elections and free markets were each understood as positive forces and each was seen as checking and balancing the negative tendencies of the others. Science wars, culture wars, and comments pages are manifestations of a perfectly reasonable loss of faith in the social foundations of those individual freedoms. Without a shared effort to re-establish trust in scientific experts, political representatives and economic elites, explaining science and facts to denialists and those committed to fake news will get us nowhere.

Alan Rudy is associate professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Central Michigan University. His research interests include the areas of hybrid environmental social theory, the overlapping politics of nature, labor and community and regional agricultural studies. 

Sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work and Critical Engagements.

Wes Lowery is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, a CNN political contributor, the author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement (2016), which describes his experiences while reporting on the 2016 Ferguson unrest and also chronicles the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

This event is free and open to the public and will also be available on our livestream starting a few minutes before 7:00 PM. Sponsored by the Department of Journalism, the College of Arts and Media, and Critical Engagements.

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Please join us on November 20 to learn more about the role of social media in spreading “fake news” and the psychology behind why we believe untrue messages. After a screening of the PBS special The Facebook Dilemma, CMU psychology faculty members Sarah Domoff, Kimberly O'Brien, Kyle Scherr, and experimental psychology graduate student Brian Kissell will lead a panel discussion. November 20, 6:00–8:00 PM, Anspach 162.

Sponsored by the Department of Psychology and Critical Engagements. For more information, contact Christi Brookes at 989-774-3341 or brook1nc@cmich.edu.

Please join us on November 14 for a presentation by Tom Henry, former student reporter for CM Life and now an award-winning environmental-energy writer and reporter for the Toledo Blade, on “The Intersection of Environmental Reporting and Fake News.” Thursday, November 14, 7:00 PM, Baber Room, Park Library, Central Michigan University.

Sponsored by the Clarke Historical Library and Critical Engagements.

Join us for a discussion on how CMU faculty are researching what happens in the public sphere, how consumers react to digital advertising, the impact of presidential rhetoric, Fake News and conspiracy on YouTube, and other matters. Panelists include:

• Dr. Edward Hinck

• Dr. Jinhee Lee

• Dr. Shelly Hinck

• Dr. Zulfia Zaher

Contact: Dr. Ed Simpson, simps1e@cmich.edu, (989) 774-3196

Visiting professor of history Lutz Budrass (University of Bochum) reviews the whitewashing of national histories, including a discussion about how the history of the German aircraft industry has been manipulated to conceal the participation of aircraft industrialists in Nazi crimes. Dr. Budrass is a Senior Lecturer in Social, Economic, and Technological History at the Ruhr-University of Bochum who has published widely in the military, industrial, and business history of modern Germany and Europe. He is teaching in the Department of History as an Erasmus exchange professor in fall 2019, and was also a visiting exchange professor at CMU in 2010.

Sponsored by the CMU Department of History and Critical Engagements.

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Join the CLASS Excellence in Teaching and Learning Committee (ETLC) for an interactive workshop. This year, the ETLC is considering the president’s call for programs that display “rigor, relevance, and excellence,” particularly in light of this year’s Critical Engagements theme of “Fake News: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?”

Our first workshop describes an assignment in Dr. Rachael Barron-Duncan’s African Art course which tackles a common internet conundrum: the most “relevant” and popular sources often lack rigor and excellence. Looking at the misinformation or complete dearth of information on English-language Wikipedia regarding African visual culture, Dr. Barron-Duncan’s students have set about to supply the expertise needed to curate those pages in an academically responsible way.

Join us to discuss an example of how discipline-based content assignments can build source-analysis and critical-thinking skills. Refreshments will be served. 

Join Central Michigan University faculty members for a seminar-style discussion about the impeachment inquiry into President Trump and whether it’s a real possibility. Department of Political Science and Public Administration faculty members Kyla Stepp and Jeremy Castle will facilitate the discussion. Coffee and cookies will be provided.

Contact: David Jesuit, (989) 774-2795 or david.jesuit@cmich.edu

Faculty from different disciplines will explore the history of vaccination, hesitancy to vaccinate, vaccination myths, the science behind vaccines, and its relation to autism.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Karen Rathmann, Pediatrician, Isabella Citizens for Health

• Dr. Ariel Cascio, Assistant Professor, University, College of Medicine

• Dr. Melissa Tuttle, Director, Central Michigan university, Psychological Training & Consultation Center

• Robert Wyse, M.S. Doctoral Student, Central Michigan University, School Psychology