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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Ford Hall Forum

The Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. Its mission is to foster an informed and effective citizenry and to promote freedom of speech through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions. Forum events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open debate.

http://www.fordhallforum.org/

  • Medical Errors and Patient Safety

    Tue, May 11, 2004
    A panel of professionals weigh in on the shocking 1999 The Institute of Medicine report on medical safety. Panelists include Lucian Leape, Connie Crowley Ganser, and Linda Kelly. The event is moderated by John A. Fromson. The Institute of Medicine reported in 1999 that health care in the United States is not as safe as it should be, and that as many as 98,000 patients may die each year from preventable medical errors. How far have we progressed in five years? How do doctors, nurses, and other health care workers approach patient safety? What is the responsibility of the patient for patient safety? How can we make medical care better? .
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  • Chain of Command: From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib

    Fri, Oct 29, 2004
    Seymour Hersh discusses his recent book *Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib* as well as the Bush Administration's "war on terror," its intelligence failures, and what he describes as the lies and obsession that led America into Iraq.
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  • Harvard Rules: Behind the Ivy Tower

    Wed, Mar 9, 2005
    Richard Bradley discusses *Harvard Rules: The Struggle for the Soul of the World's Most Powerful University*, in which he climbs high into the ivory tower and goes behind the revered walls, offering the first unauthorized look at the world's most powerful university and its controversial president. Harvard University is synonymous with power, wealth, influence, and excellence. The second wealthiest non-profit in the world, Harvard has long and fiercely maintained a wall of secrecy around its inner workings. Until now. Presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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  • Breaking Ranks

    Mon, Apr 4, 2005
    Two Iraq war veterans, Mike Hoffman and Paul Rieckhoff, discuss rising dissent to the war in Iraq within the American military, the backdoor draft, and what it really means to "support our troops." *Mother Jones* reported in a recent cover story that more and more US soldiers are speaking out on the war in Iraq, and some are refusing to fight. Presented in collaboration with the WAND Education Fund, *Mother Jones* Magazine, and Boston's Talk Station, AM 680 WRKO.
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  • Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in America

    Tue, Apr 12, 2005
    Martha Burk talks about the international firestorm of debate she sparked by suggesting that the nation's premier golf club open its doors to women. The Augusta National Golf Club's membership roster reads like the New York Stock Exchange. It includes top executives, CEOs and board members from American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Bechtel, CBS/Viacom, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Coors, ExxonMobil, Ford, GE, Harvard University, Hormel, IBM, Morgan Stanley, Motorola, United Technologies, and US Steel, among others. What Augusta National's membership roster emphatically does not include is women. Presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series
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  • Remembering Trauma

    Tue, Feb 10, 2004
    Clinician and laboratory researcher Richard McNally challenges the ready acceptance of a notion he says goes beyond common sense, and contends that traumatic experiences are indeed unforgettable and the evidence for repressed memories is surprisingly weak. Are horrific experiences indelibly fixed in a victim's memory? Or does the mind protect itself by banishing traumatic memories from consciousness? How victims remember trauma is the most controversial issue in psychology today, spilling out of consulting rooms and laboratories to capture headlines, rupture families, provoke legislative change, and influence criminal trials and civil suits. This lecture is presented in collaboration with Boston Theatre Works to coincide with the world premiere of *Conspiracy of Memory*, a timely new drama by local playwright Steven Bogart that explores issues of aging, forgiveness, acceptance, and redemption.
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    Mental Health Month ,  Food and Wellness
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  • Putting Massachusetts Students and Schools to the Test

    Wed, Apr 10, 2002
    James Peyser, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and Ted Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, discuss the controversial Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test. Heated debate has surrounded the MCAS test since 1993, when it was first introduced to identify and help students and schools that were failing. Advocates call the MCAS test the foundation for a bold plan to reform education in the state while critics insist this standardized text is too narrow in its assessment of students' abilities.
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  • Defending Guantanamo Bay Detainees

    Thu, Mar 30, 2006
    In a program cosponsored by Amnesty International USA, three lawyers currently defending prisoners in Guantanamo Bay talk about who the detainees are and why the United States continues to hold them. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States government has held hundreds of men at Guantanamo Bay as part of its "global war on terrorism." Some see the methods employed there as necessary to protect ourselves against new and horrifying threats to national security. However, the secrecy and questions about the legality of the imprisonments have drawn concern from lawmakers, foreign governments, and human rights groups. They claim that such measures violate the Geneva Conventions, inspire anti-Americanism, and infringe upon the very foundations of our civil rights.
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  • Reclaiming Democracy

    Sun, Oct 2, 2005
    Eli Pariser, the campaigns director of MoveOn, a grassroots Internet advocacy group, talks about his work, the state of democracy today, and what lies ahead. Moderated by Susan Shaer, executive director of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), and president of the Ford Hall Forum. Cosponsored by the WAND Education Fund.
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  • Women to Women: Journey to Darfur

    Thu, Nov 17, 2005
    Linda Mason, Liz Walker and Gloria White-Hammond discuss their experiences and thoughts about the future of Darfur and its people and what the United States can do. This lecture includes a presentation of video footage of the women's 2005 trip produced by Liz Walker. In February, 2005, Mason, Walker and White-Hammond traveled to Darfur in the western part of Sudan to raise global awareness of the conflict and to raise funds to support the women and children of Darfur. Recent news reports peg the number of displaced people at 2.5 million and estimate 200,000 to 400,000 have died, mostly women and children, in what has been described as ongoing ethnic genocide. Over 200,000 people have fled across the border to Chad.
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