Stay tuned for information on our
2025-2027 Theme of Inquiry
Common Ground:
Cities, Towns, and Counties Confronting Shared Challenges
Upcoming Events Hosted or Co-sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center
All are free and open to the public.
Please check back for updates and links to events that will be live streamed.
Thursday, January 29, 6:00-7:30 pm
Federal Civil Rights Cases by and against the Trump Administration,
featuring Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Margo Schlanger (Michigan Law)
Knight Law Center room 175
Sponsor: Alpha of Oregon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Co-sponsors: Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, UO Prison Education Project, UO School of Law, UO Law Criminal Defense Association, UO Political Science Dept
Thursday, February 12, 5:30 pm
Unhoused: The Politics and Criminalization of Homelessness from Big Cities to Small Towns, featuring Chris Herring (UCLA) and Claire Herbert (UO)
Knight Law Center room 175
Part of the WMC’s 2025-2027 Theme of Inquiry Common Ground: Cities, Towns, and Counties Confronting Shared Challenges
Tuesday, March 3, 12:00 pm
The Master-Servant Doctrine: How Old Legal Rules Haunt the Modern Workplace,
featuring Elizabeth Chika Tippet (UO Law)
Knight Law Center room 141
Co-sponsored by the UO School of Law
Wednesday, April 8, 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Annual Wayne Morse Chair Address, featuring Julián Castro,
Housing and Urban Development Secretary in the Obama administration, former Mayor of San Antonio, 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate.
Erb Memorial Union (EMU) Ballroom, 1395 University St, Eugene
Part of the WMC’s 2025-2027 Theme of Inquiry Common Ground: Cities, Towns, and Counties Confronting Shared Challenges
Thursday, April 16 in the early evening
Annual Peter DeFazio Lecture: How Do We Bridge a Divided America?
featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof
Venue TBA
A partnership between UO Libraries and the Wayne Morse Center, with generous support from the Coquille Indian Tribe.
Monday, May 11, 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Rural Versus Urban: Repairing the Divide, featuring Trevor Brown (Cornell)
Venue TBA
Part of the WMC’s 2025-2027 Theme of Inquiry Common Ground: Cities, Towns, and Counties Confronting Shared Challenges
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Margo Schlanger will hold a public lecture on:
"Federal Civil Rights Cases by and against the Trump Administration"
Margo Schlanger is the University of Michigan's Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law, and the founder and director of the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Professor Schlanger earned her JD from Yale in 1993, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Professor Schlanger is the 2025-2026 Carl F. Cranor Family Visiting Scholar.
Videos of recent events
Borders and Belonging Toward a Fair Immigration Policy featuring Hiroshi Motomura UCLA Law
Ten Years Since Obergefell Past and Present Fights for LGBTQ Rights
View more videos on our YouTube channel
