Following the Commission on Presidential Debates' decision last fall to award the final 2008 presidential debate to Hofstra, President Stuart Rabinowitz announced plans for Educate '08, an unprecedented educational effort that engages not only students and faculty but also the public in a year-long series of conferences, events and lectures.
"The presidential debates are pivotal events that can shape the course of the election, and our students and community will be able to witness, first-hand, the democratic process," said President Rabinowitz. "With Hofstra's unique academic strengths, particularly with our Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency and our vibrant academic programs in political science, journalism and mass media, and law, we are uniquely poised to take advantage of the special opportunities a presidential debate offers.
Educate '08 is a multidisciplinary effort that includes lectures, conferences, symposia, roundtables, town halls, discussions, academic coursework, exhibits, theater and the arts, student events and activism. Many activities are free and open to the public.
Educate '08 has brought to campus political advisors, journalists and academics, including David Gergen, advisor to four presidents; Adam Nagourney, chief political correspondent for The New York Times; Charlie Cook, publisher, The Cook Political Report; New York Times columnists Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd; William Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard, and columnist, The New York Times; Mary Matalin, conservative voice and presidential adviser; and James Carville, media personality and political icon.
Hofstra is also sending four students to the Democratic and Republican national party conventions this year to participate in special two-week courses organized by The Washington Center, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Meena Bose, Ph.D., the Peter S, Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies at Hofstra and director of the Center for the Study of the American Presidency, will be scholar in residence for the course at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.
Educate '08 builds on Hofstra's strong history of academic study of the American presidency. Since 1982, Hofstra has hosted 11 presidential conferences on every chief executive, from "FDR: The Man, The Myth, The Era - 1882-1945" through the November 2005 "The 'New' Democrat from Hope: William Jefferson Clinton."