Since 2020, Suffolk University has welcomed the public into a virtual classroom to explore pressing public policy issues with experts—from Politics in the Time of Global Pandemic, to the challenges facing the Biden administration in its first one hundred days and heading into the 2022 mid-term election. This spring, the University is presenting the second half of its latest series, Our Issues. Our Voices. Our Votes., in a hybrid format, giving attendees the option to participate in person for the first time.

The open classroom series is produced through a partnership among Suffolk University’s Political Science & Legal Studies Department, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, GBH Forum Network, and The Washington Center. Each event brings together students, policy experts, journalists and academics, and the broader public—a unique approach designed to encourage dialogue and promote civic engagement. 

Following a panel on gun violence March 8 (watch the recording here), the series continues March 21 with Calling BS: Navigating The New Norms of Media and Democracy. Panelists include Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for The WGBH News Center for Investigative Reporting; Jonas Kaiser, Suffolk communication, journalism & media professor; and Tina Zournatzi, head of unit for communication at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs. In a conversation moderated by Suffolk philosophy professor and acting director of the politics, philosophy and economics program, Rachel McKinney, they’ll discuss the choices made in a media environment where trust and attention are both in short supply in a conversation.