Bari Weiss comes to CMU in conjunction with the ninetieth annual Holocaust Awareness Series
Colorado Mesa University and Jewish Colorado have teamed up to bring author, podcaster, writer and award-winning journalist Bari Weiss to campus. On Tuesday, April 5, Weiss will participate in a panel discussion with CMU President John Marshall and CMU Trustee David Foster. Interested members of the public are encouraged to attend.
Weiss is the author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism, which won a 2019 National Jewish Book Award and a Natan Notable Book Award. Prior to launching her Substack newsletter and the "Honestly with Bari Weiss" podcast, she was an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times and an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal.
Weiss is a strong proponent of free speech and her opinion on widely debated topics has landed her on some of the nation's most notable platforms including "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, "The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast", "Making Sense" with Sam Harris, CNN, "Real Time with Bill Maher" and more.
"One of the main missions of higher education is to foster a space where people with different points of views and opinions can come together and engage in civil discourse," said CMU President John Marshall. "We know that free speech can often lead to uncomfortable conversations. As a campus we actively embrace different points of view and this event is a great opportunity for our campus to hear from a national thought leader who isn't afraid to speak her mind."
In 2020, CMU adopted the Chicago Statement, also known as the Report of the Committee of Freedom of Expression. The resolution adopted by CMU states that higher education cannot "become incubators of comfort" at the expense of taking on and exploring the complex, provocative and essential ideas in society and culture. CMU has hosted a wide range of speakers to engage the campus community on hard but necessary conversations throughout the years. Weiss will be one of the more recent and recognizable.
"It's not every day we land someone with Bari's profile to speak in Grand Junction and we're excited to have her on campus," said Marshall.
When it comes to free speech, Weiss has won several awards, including the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism and Reason Foundation's 2018 Bastiat Prize, which honors writing that "best demonstrates the importance of freedom with originality, wit, and eloquence." In 2019, Vanity Fair called Weiss the Times's "star opinion writer" and The Jerusalem Post named Weiss the seventh most influential Jew in the world.
Doors will open at 5pm on April 5 in the Robinson Theatre. The event is free for students, faculty and staff but tickets must be reserved in advance. The discussion is open to the public but seats are limited.