Notable Speakers Bring in Big Audiences, Big Ideas

Dolores Huerta, Ron Stallworth, Ronan Farrow, Bill Nye

Browning Presents! Ronan Farrow

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow visited Weber State in January 2019 as part of the Browning Presents! series in the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities. Farrow’s groundbreaking article in The New Yorker on sexual harassment and abuse in Hollywood was a catalyst for the #MeToo movement. Farrow encouraged students and the community to “stay in the fight” and stick to their principles even in the
face of controversy and fear. 

Civil Rights Icon Shares Important Message: Get Involved

Legendary labor leader and community organizer Dolores Huerta encouraged students, faculty and staff to support equality and defend civil rights. 

In 1962, Huerta and César Chavez founded the United Farm Workers union. She served as vice president and was instrumental in many of the union’s successes, including the strikes against California grape growers in the 1960s and ’70s. In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At Weber State, Huerta encouraged students to vote and get involved in public policy. She relayed a message she told farmworkers decades ago, a message that remains relevant today: “We told [them], ‘You have power.’ But you can’t do it yourself, you need to come together and organize. One person can’t do it all by themselves.”

Black Klansman Author Talks Investigation of a Lifetime

Law enforcement veteran Ron Stallworth, author of the autobiographical Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime, spoke twice to packed WSU crowds. 

Stallworth, the first black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, infiltrated the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in 1978. He interacted with Klan members over the phone while his partner, Chuck, who was white, met with Klan members in person. In doing so, Ron helped sabotage cross burnings, expose white supremacists in the military and combat domestic terrorism. 

Stallworth’s book inspired the award-winning major motion picture Black KkKlansman, which was written and directed by Spike Lee. The film won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2019 Academy Awards.

‘Science Guy’ in Ogden

Bill Nye, “The Science Guy,” brought an exciting conclusion to the 2018-19 Engaged Learning Series, Matter of Fact? 

It took less than 60 minutes to sell out all available tickets in the Val A. Browning Center. The university quickly moved the program to the Dee Events Center to allow more people to hear a moderated conversation with the popular author, TV personality and scientist.

Engaged Learning Series chair Teresa Martinez BS ’11, MHA ’14 describes Nye as an iconic figure who connects with multiple generations. “He’s relatable, entertaining, but most importantly, he talks about facts through science,” Martinez said. “WSU and the Center for Community Engaged Learning are excited that a speaker of his caliber would visit the Ogden area to engage the campus and community.”