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One of the nation's most highly regarded political analysts, Morris Fiorina, will meet the community at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Presidents Room and discuss the American political process. His lecture is titled "Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in the United States" and is free and open to the public.
Fiorina is a Stanford political science professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His 2005 book "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized Electorate" was a best-seller. In "Culture War?," Fiorina argued that most Americans hold political opinions that are moderate, but special interests and the media present political views in polarized terms of "us" versus "them." For example, Fiorina shows, most Americans are against abortion but also believe abortion should be legal in a wide variety of special circumstances. But in order to raise money, sell newspapers or get votes, the issue is presented as if there are only two kinds of voters - those who are for abortion and those who are against it.
"Morris Fiorina was one of the first political scientists to comprehensively debunk the popular assumption that the American electorate was becoming increasingly polarized over hot button political issues" said Dr. Jeff Becker, a political science professor at Pacific.
Fiorina is the first guest lecturer brought to Pacific by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest honor society, as part of its Visiting Scholar Program. Each year, 12 or more distinguished scholars selected by the national society visit 100 colleges and universities with Phi Beta Kappa chapters. The scholars spend two days on each campus, meeting informally with students and faculty members, taking part in classroom discussions, and giving a public lecture open to the entire academic community. Pacific's Phi Beta Kappa chapter was established last year.
For more information about the reception lecture, please call Dr. Caroline Cox at 209.946.2929 or e-mail her at ccox@pacific.edu.
To learn more about Morris Fiorina, visit his Web site at http://politicalscience.stanford.edu/faculty/fiorina.html [2]
WHO: Dr. Morris Fiorina
WHAT: Reception and lecture
WHEN: Reception at 5:30 p.m., lecture at 6:15 p.m., Feb. 28
WHERE: President's Room, Stockton Campus, University of the Pacific
COST: Free and open to the public