{"id":53291,"date":"2020-11-05T16:34:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T21:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?page_id=53291"},"modified":"2026-02-04T09:46:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:46:50","slug":"lectures","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/community\/lectures\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts & Sciences Lecture Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arts & Sciences Lecture Series at Boston University celebrates bold ideas and interdisciplinary dialogue through three signature events: the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture<\/strong>, honoring the progressive legacy of historian and activist Howard Zinn; the Silas Peirce Lecture<\/strong>, fostering community across disciplines with thought-provoking discussions; and the Gitner Family Lecture<\/strong>, spotlighting leaders whose work addresses issues of broad significance. Together, these lectures embody the spirit of Arts \u00d7 Sciences<\/strong>\u2014a multiplier of knowledge and possibilities.<\/p>\n

Zinn<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Gitner<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Peirce<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Nominate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Next Up! <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Silas Peirce Lecture<\/span><\/h6>\n

Reporting in an Age of Disappearance:
\n Investigative Reporting on Systems Built to Erase<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaker<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>Sarah Stillman<\/a>, <\/strong>staff writer at The New Yorker<\/em> and professor at Yale<\/p>\n

Tuesday, February 10, 2026
\n6:00 \u2013 7:30 pm
\nCenter for Computing & Data Sciences,<\/span> 1750<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more than a decade, Sarah Stillman has reported for The New Yorker<\/i> on the human toll of profiteering — in prisons, jails, immigration detention facilities, and beyond. In her Silas Pierce lecture, she will explore the role that traditional investigative reporting can play in unearthing injustice, while also confronting its limits in a rapidly-shifting media landscape. As information ecosystems grow more siloed\u2014and misinformation more pervasive — Stillman argues that new models of reporting are urgently needed: work that is more collaborative, experimental, and expansive in how it reaches diverse audiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Drawing on recent reporting about the Trump Administration’s mass deportations, Stillman will share her interviews with individuals subjected to ICE’s secretive “third-country deportation” program\u2014an effort to deport people to high-risk countries with which they have no prior ties. The lecture asks how investigative journalism can adapt not only to expose hard-won truths in this fast-moving moment, but also, to sustain themin public memory, in the historical record, and in the lives of the people most affected.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About the Speaker<\/h6>
<\/p>\n

Sarah Stillman is a staff writer at The New Yorker<\/em> whose investigative reporting explores how power and profit shape key American systems, including criminal justice, immigration, and climate policy. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the felony-murder doctrine, and her work has exposed the economic incentives embedded in punishment and governance\u2014from debtors’ prisons and civil asset forfeiture to the exploitation of disaster-recovery workers amid the climate crisis. She has documented the human toll of mass deportation across multiple presidential administrations, including, most recently, conducting some of the first interviews with people deported by the Trump Administration to third countries where they had no prior ties and faced indefinite detention. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stillman teaches journalism as a Professor in the Practice at Yale University, where she also directs the Investigative Reporting Lab, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to collaborative public-interest storytelling. Previously, she ran the Global Migration Project at Columbia Journalism School; her work can be found in the best-selling anthology\u00a0<\/span>All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0as well as in multiple\u00a0<\/span>Best American Magazine Writing<\/span><\/em>\u00a0anthologies. She is a MacArthur Fellow.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn More<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 Register<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n


\nAbout the Arts & Sciences Lecture Series<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture<\/a><\/p>\n

The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture was established in 2008 to be a stimulating and energizing memorial to the progressive political values of Professor Howard Zinn<\/a> (1922\u20132010), a historian, author, professor, playwright, mentor, and activist whose writings changed the lives of BU students and readers around the world. Zinn taught in the College of Arts & Sciences\u2019 political science department for 24 years, from 1964 to 1988, and wrote dozens of books, including A People\u2019s History of the United States<\/em>. The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture is made possible by the Zinn Lecture Fund, thanks to a generous gift from Alex MacDonald, Esq. (CAS\u201972), and his late wife Maureen A. Strafford, MD (MED\u201976).<\/p>\n

The Silas Peirce Lecture<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Silas Peirce Lecture, reintroduced in 2014, is designed to foster a sense of community among faculty, students, and alumni across multiple disciplines and colleges. Named after Silas Peirce (1860-1922), a prominent Boston businessman and philanthropist who served as treasurer and trustee of Boston University, the lecture honors Peirce’s legacy and deep roots in the Boston area. The lecture is open to all fields of inquiry across the liberal arts and sciences and designed to represent diverse disciplines over the years.\u00a0 The Silas Peirce fund, established by his heirs, ensures the continuation of these special lectures, which aim to bring together the academic community through engaging and thought-provoking discussions.<\/p>\n

The Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family College of Arts & Sciences Lecture<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family College of Arts & Sciences Lecture, held annually in the fall, is designed to highlight thought leaders in any field, whose teaching, research, or service address topics of major importance for the broad interest and benefit of the BU community. The Gitner Lecture is made possible by Gerald Gitner (CAS’66) and his wife, Deanne, who have long been generous and engaged members of the Boston University community. Gitner, who graduated from the college with a degree in history, is a Trustee Emeritus of BU and a current member of the CAS Dean\u2019s Advisory Board and the Pardee School for Global Studies Dean\u2019s Advisory Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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