#ActsOfCivility: A Conversation with Cindy McCain

Location

Virtual

Free

Please plan on participating in Restoring Respect's Ninth Annual Conference on Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue held as a live virtual event on October 7. Our program will feature a live 45-minute virtual interview with Cindy McCain. She will speak about the McCain Institute’s #ActsofCivility initiative, launched last year in memory of her late husband, Senator John McCain.

"Acts of Civility" will be the conference theme for this year as we discuss rebuilding civility during the coming contentious, polarized and uncivil 2020 election year. Join us for a timely and inspirational discussion about how we can bring #actsofcivility into our personal and institutional missions and turn the tide on uncivil times.

Mrs. McCain will be interviewed about living the legacy of Senator McCain and his dedication to our being a civil nation. "Senator McCain didn't always agree with his colleagues in Congress, but he always respected them. There was nothing he enjoyed more than debating the most pressing issues of the time on the floor of the Senate with his good friend, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, shaking hands at the end of their discussion, and then sharing lunch with one another as friends. Sadly, this type of civil engagement is all too rare lately. But we can do something to help reignite a spirit of civility." (Cindy McCain, 2019)  

• The Reverend George Walker Smith (video tribute)
• Cindy Marten, Superintendent, San Diego Unified School District 
• Constance Carroll, PhD, Chancellor San Diego Community College District
• Maria Senour, PhD, President, Board of Trustees, SDCCD
• James Harris, DEd, President, University of San Diego
• Tom Karlo, General Manager, KPBS Radio and Television
• Jeff Light, Publisher and Editor, San Diego Union-Tribune
• Trudy Sopp, Representative, San Diego Retired Employees Association

JOIN US FOR OUR TWO IMPORTANT AFTERNOON PANELS (Registration Links Below)

• USD Conversations: The Impact of Misinformation on American Democracy, Past and Present (12:30 - 1:45 p.m.)
• Voting 2020: Fact v. Fiction (2-3:15 p.m.)

USD Conversations: The Impact of Misinformation on American Democracy, Past and Present

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020 | 12:30-1:45 p.m. PDT

Location: Virtual Panel Hosted by University of San Diego College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Center

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance— George Bernard Shaw.

REGISTER HERE

Please join our panel of national experts as we examine the impact of Fake News, Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories like QAnon on American Democracy, past and present. Coming less than a month before the November election, presents our audience with a critical moment to assess the state of American democracy and what we can do to stem a tidal wave of bad information eroding the foundations of rational democratic political participation.

Welcome and Introductions: Noelle Norton, PhD, Dean, USD College of Arts and Sciences

Panel Moderator: Caroline Klibanoff, Program Director, Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Panelists:

• Stephanie Arduini, Deputy Director American Civil War Museum and Director, Edward L. Ayers Center for Civil War and Emancipation Studies
• Ami Carpenter, Associate Professor, Kroc School of Peace Studies
• Matt Hall, Editorial and Opinion Editor, San Diego Union-Tribune
• Louise Mirrer, President and CEO, New-York Historical Society
• Shea Rhodes, Esq, Director and Co-Founder Villanova Law Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation
• Natalie Walsh, Executive Producer, KPBS News

Voting 2020: Fact v. Fiction

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020 | 2-3:15 p.m. PDT

Location: Virtual Panel Hosted by University of San Diego Department of Political Science/International Relations.

REGISTER HERE

Please join our expert panelists as they examine the realities and the fictions circulating around voting in this November election. Voter and vote integrity, the security of the electoral system and issues/non-issues of voter fraud will be discussed along with the practical aspects of registration and voting by mail in the age of COVID-19.

Panel Moderator: Evan Crawford, PhD, Assistant Professor, Political Science and International Relations, USD PS/IR

Panelists:

• Thad Kousser, PhD, Department Chair/ Professor of Political Science UCSD
• Michael Vu, San Diego County Registrar of Voters
• Lori Thiel, President, League of Women Voters of San Diego

Co-Sponsored by USD Votes