Campus Life

Events to celebrate diverse community, educate on political violence, fake news

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State is hosting three events on the University Park campus over the next week to celebrate the diversity of the campus community and provide educational opportunities on political violence, fake news and discerning facts from fiction.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Joan Donovan, research director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, will present “Doing It for the Content: Understanding Political Violence and Far Right Organizing from Fashion to Fascism.” Donovan will shine a light on political violence and the agitation tactics used by far-right groups to shape media narratives and provoke a response in the press and on social media that will amplify their cause.

The talk, scheduled for 6 p.m. in Freeman Auditorium in the HUB-Robeson Center. Donovan’s talk also will be livestreamed here.

At 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24, award-winning journalist Al Tompkins, who is now senior faculty for broadcast and online at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, will present a free public lecture addressing challenges for journalists, the importance of truth and more. Tompkins, one of America’s most requested broadcast journalism and multimedia teachers, will present “Fighting Truth Decay: How and Why Fakers Fake” in Freeman Auditorium of the HUB-Robeson Center.

Also on Monday, Oct. 24, all members of the Penn State community are encouraged to attend “Together We Are” from 6 to 10 p.m. in the HUB-Robeson Center. Organized by the Penn State Student Programming Association with help from the University community, "Together We Are" will be a celebration with music, performances, free food and other activities to educate and immerse attendees into the various cultures, identities and communities on campus.

Last Updated October 16, 2022