When polarization threatens to overwhelm the public square, how can we strengthen the habits, values, and trust that will sustain our democracy into the future?
Join us in exploring the crisis of democracy in the United States by reckoning with problems and considering solutions. Problems include attacks on government institutions, dysfunction in political parties, and dishonesty in media. Solutions include defending equality as well as freedom, civil dialogue, rule of law, civic engagement, inclusion, and the possibility of shared reality and justice.
Danielle Allen
2024-25 Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics
Events
3:00–4:30 p.m.
Lynn Vavreck is the Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics and Public Policy at UCLA, a contributing columnist to The Upshot at The New York Times, and a recipient of the Andrew F. Carnegie Prize in the Humanities and Social Sciences. She is the author of five books, including Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America, and The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election, described as the “definitive account” of the 2012 election. Political consultants on both sides of the aisle refer to her work on political messaging as “required reading” for presidential candidates. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and she has served on the advisory boards of both the British and American National Election Studies. At UCLA she teaches courses on campaigns, elections, public opinion, and the 1960s. Vavreck holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester and held previous appointments at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, and The White House.
noon
A Morse Bookmarks event featuring Neil O'Brian, assistant professor of political science at UO.
In the late twentieth century, gay rights, immigration, gun control, and abortion debates all burst onto the political scene, scrambling the parties and polarizing the electorate. Neil A. O’Brian traces the origins of today’s political divide on these issues to the 1960s when Democrats and Republicans split over civil rights. It was this partisan polarization over race, he argues, that subsequently shaped partisan fault lines on other culture war issues that persist to this day.
Neil O’Brian is an academic expert in U.S. politics with focus on public opinion, political parties and polarization. In May 2024, he was named a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
noon
5:15–6:45 p.m.
Watch the livestream Featuring Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College. Sadhwani specializes in Asian American and Latino voting behavior, elections, interest groups and representation. Her analysis of politics and elections has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, Bloomberg, Politico, The Guardian, Vox, The Los Angeles Times, NBC News, The HuffPost and many more. In a voting rights case before the California Supreme Court, she coauthored an amicus brief that summarizes empirical research on the benefits of maximizing the voting strength of historically excluded communities.
5:30–7:00 p.m.
Election takeaways and discussion of what comes next with a panel of election experts featuring Rep. Peter DeFazio and University of Oregon professors Alison Gash, Chandler James, Regina Lawrence, Neil O’Brian and Daniel Tichenor. Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
Watch the livestream If you're watching the livestream, participate by texting your question to (541) 632-4435 during the event. We may not get to all questions but will answer as many as we can.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
6:00–7:30 p.m.
2024 Margaret Hallock Lecture featuring Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014. Nelson represents 55,000 workers at 20 airlines. The New York Times called her "America's most powerful flight attendant" for her role in helping to end the 35-day government shutdown and InStyle Magazine placed her on their Top 50 Badass Women list. The New Yorker profiled AFA and Nelson's career in May 2022.
Nelson has served as a leading voice on issues facing women in the workplace and across the country, encouraging women everywhere to "Join Unions, Run Unions." She serves as a member of the AFL-CIO executive council, the Communication Workers of America executive board, the Transportation Trades Department executive board, the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy, and as vice chair of the International Transport Workers Federation Civil Aviation steering committee. She received the Jones-Blizzard Award from the United Mine Workers of America, the AFL-CIO MLK Drum Major for Justice Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from Jobs with Justice, the National Consumers League Trumpeter Award, Women’s March Spotlight Award, and Massachusetts Teachers Association Friend of Labor Award. Nelson grew up in Corvallis and earned a bachelor's degree from Principia College with majors in English and Education.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
5:30 p.m.
Featuring Steve Levitsky. Levitsky is a professor of government and Latin American studies and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. He is senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation and a senior democracy fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is co-author (with Daniel Ziblatt) of the bestselling How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point.
6:00–7:30 p.m.
A conversation featuring Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama and co-host of Pod Save the World, with Story Arney and Charles Petrik, Wayne Morse Scholars; Aneesh Aneesh, Executive Director, School of Global Studies and Languages; and Yvonne Braun, Professor, Global Studies.
Sign up for the Wayne Morse Center email list to get a livestream link for this event.
Ben Rhodes is a writer, political commentator, and national security analyst. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made, and The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House. He is currently co-host of Pod Save the World; a contributor for MSNBC; a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama; and chair of National Security Action.
From 2009-2017, Rhodes served as a speechwriter and Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. In that capacity, he participated in all of President Obama’s key decisions, oversaw the President’s national security communications and public diplomacy, and led the secret negotiations with the Cuban government that resulted in the effort to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, the United Nations Association at the UO, and the School of Journalism and Communication.
3:00–5:00 p.m.
For 12 years, Michele Norris, former host of NPR's All Things Considered, invited people to share their stories about race in America for The Race Card Project. The responses offered an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, look at race and identity. Her book Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, came out of was borne from that project and is a unique compilation of stories, essays, and photographs providing a window into America during a tumultuous era. In this intriguing talk, Norris shares insights gleaned from The Race Card Project, and explains how honesty, grace, and a willing ear can provide a bridge toward empathy and understanding.
About the Speaker
An award-winning journalist, Michele Norris is senior contributor to MSNBC and former host of NPR's All Things Considered. She is known for her insightful commentary on race and culture and is the author of Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, a powerful exploration of personal stories and untold histories surrounding race in America.
Norris is also the creator of The Race Card Project, a national initiative that invites people to share their reflections on race. A respected voice in media, she has received numerous honors for her work advocating for inclusive storytelling and social change.
About the Event
The UO School of Journalism and Communication’s annual Robert and Mabel Ruhl Lecture brings the most influential voices in mass communication to campus. This year’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, which promotes the legacy of Oregon’s Senator Wayne Morse by fostering education, research, and leadership to advance justice and inclusive democracy. This is an in-person event on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, in the Redwood Auditorium (Room 214) in the Erb Memorial Union (EMU).
6:00–7:30 p.m.
This free event is in person and available via livestream.
A panel discussion featuring:
Bruce Blonigen, Edward Maletis Dean of the Lundquist College of Business and Philip H. Knight Professor of Social Science, on economy/tariffs Melissa Buis, professor of politics and chair of the Politics, Policy, Law and Ethics Department at Willamette University, on health and welfare Peter DeFazio, former U.S. representative for Oregon's 4th congressional district, on Congress Greg Dotson, associate professsor of law at UO, on climate/energy Alison Gash, professor of political science at UO, on LGBT health/safety Chandler James, assistant professor of political science at UO, on the Presidency Daniel Tichenor, Philip H. Knight Chair of Social Science and Wayne Morse Center codirector, on immigrationPart of the Wayne Morse Center's 2023-25 theme of inquiry, Defending Democracy.
12:15–1:45 p.m.
Cecilia Márquez is the Hunt Family Assistant Professor in History at Duke University. Her research focuses on the history of Latinxs in the U.S. South from 1940-present. Márquez writes and teaches about the formation of Latinx identity, Latinx social movements, and the importance of region in shaping Latinx identity. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She is the author of Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center as part of its 2023-25 theme, Defending Democracy. Cosponsored by the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies and the Department of History.
5:30–7:00 p.m.
Frances Moore Lappé is a social justice activist and the author of 20 books, including Diet for a Small Planet, which sold millions of copies and was named as one of 75 Books by Women Whose Words Have Changed the World by the Women's National Book Association. Her most recent works focus on “living democracy”—suggesting not only a government accountable to citizens but a way of living aligned with the deep human need for connection, meaning, and power. Among many awards, she has received the James Beard Humanitarian Award, the International Studies Association's 2009 Outstanding Public Scholar Award, the Nonino Prize in Italy for her life's work, and 20 honorary doctorates.
6:15–7:45 p.m.
Recent controversies in the United States and other countries have involved nonprofit organizations that are involved in political advocacy and political activities. In this talk Mark Sidel, a specialist in these issues, discusses how the United States and several other countries try to set policy and law on the extent of nonprofit political advocacy and activities.
Mark Sidel is Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He serves on the boards of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, the China Medical Board, The Rights Practice (US), and other organizations.
Cosponsored by University of Oregon’s Department of Anthropology; Department of Global Studies; Global Studies Institute; School of Planning, Public Policy and Management; and US-Vietnam Research Center.
12:15–1:45 p.m.
Chloe Thurston, Northwestern; and Emily Zackin, Johns Hopkins; will discuss their forthcoming book. The Political Development of American Debt Relief traces how geographic, sectoral, and racial politics shaped debtor activism over time, enhancing our understanding of state-building, constitutionalism, and social policy.
7:00 p.m.–8:30 a.m.
Will Jones, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, will deliver the Bob Bussel Labor History Lecture on April 24, 2025.
The UO Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) created the lecture in recognition of Bob Bussel’s years of service as LERC’s director and an affiliated member of the UO history department. The lecture features historians with a distinguished record of scholarship, a commitment to public history, and an interest in labor and working-class issues. Will Jones is a professor of history at the University of Minnesota with a particular interest in issues of race and class. Professor Jones is the author of two books and numerous articles on labor and working-class history. He is also a past president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association.
Danielle Allen, 2024-25 Wayne Morse Chair, is a political theorist, professor at Harvard University and an advocate for democracy. Her acclaimed book, Our Declaration, offers a profound analysis of American democratic principles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen contributed crucial insights on equitable policy responses and effective governance. Allen recieved the Kluge Prize, which recognizes work in disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prizes, in 2020. In 2022, she ran for Governor of Massachusetts, emphasizing the need for systemic reform and inclusivity in state government. She writes a column on constitutional democracy for the Washington Post.
Resident Scholars
Graduate Research Fellows
Project Grants
Civics Learning Project’s workshops in Southern, Central, and Eastern Oregon will give teachers tools to create safe spaces in class, so students learn to engage in constructive discourse on contentious issues.
Eugene Friends of the Farm Workers will hold an Oct. 10 event in conjunction with the Farm Worker Rights Movement exhibit at the Lane County History Museum. The event will raise awareness of and support for PCUN.
Oregon League of Women Voters Youth Council will engage their peers in voter registration drives, youth-led workshops, and a Civic Engagement Summit to encourage them to amplify their voices in our democracy.
Next Up provides on-ramps for youth to engage in local democracy: Leadership academies teach organizing skills to build collective power. Internships train students to plan and lead voter registration drives.
Rural Organizing Project and Hood River Latino Network will provide a training hub and civic engagement workshops for new citizens, rural voters, and rural youth voters.