The United States is in the midst of a polarizing elections season. The UBC community has the opportunity to be actively involved in the debate and discussion through the Lind Initiative in U.S. Studies by the Liu Institute for Global Issues.
“The Lind Initiative started with a donation by Philip Lind, a donor to UBC who really wanted to bring leading thinkers from the US to campus, to engage with students in different ways,” said Lindsay Marsh, manager of communications and program development.
After its beginning in 2015, the initiative ran a previous series on inequality, which was led by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz. This year, they will foray into a topic which, although spoken and written about often, promises to offer novel perspectives that have not been approached greatly in the media.
Talks put on throughout the fall by speakers such as Jane Mayer and E.J. Dionne, among others, will touch on topics such as the way in which “dark money” is shaping the US election and the effect of populism on American politics.
“What is different this time is perhaps that the electorate is so divided — there is so much division between them. That divide needs to be addressed,” said Marsh on the central factor that makes discussion on this election important.
Mayer's event in the series, held last Friday, emphasized that dark money may be the real issue rather than any particular candidate — her talk aimed to be “an analysis of how super PACs and big donor money has shaped the 2016 election,” according to the Lind website.
Peter Klein, a professor from the Graduate School of Journalism, agrees with Mayer.
“If you offer shrewd business people an opportunity to take advantage of the system, then of course they are going to and that is exactly what the Koch brothers have done,” said Klein.
“Why the Right Went Wrong,” Dionne's October 14 talk, is fueled by how political analysts have wondered about the spirit of United States conservatism in recent times.
“Many of the candidates in previous campaigns didn’t necessarily have a lot of political experience,” said Klein on how presidential nominees have been chosen and viewed in the past.
The Lind Initiative opens the doors to a multitude of less spoken about, but rather controversial topics.
“Expanding from a speaker series depends on student demand — we can look at accommodating student demands. We are always open to professor and student input,” said Marsh. As the initiative's speaker series are becoming more frequent, with the next set taking place in early 2017, Marsh concluded by calling upon the UBC community to engage more actively in the events and all that they have to offer.
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