Amplifying Understanding: Reflecting on Florida Free Speech Forum’s 3 Decades and the Road Ahead

May 12th from 11:30 pm – 1:00 pm

with Jay Whitehead, Jon Reiskin, and Allan March

Please register by Thursday, May 8th.

30 years ago FFSF was created by members of the press, university, church, schools and libraries. Using the City Club Forum of Cleveland as an inspiration, we brought people together to hear a speakers in person and to ask questions to better understand their point of view.  Those exchanges were recorded and aired to a wider community by WUFT.  

Now much has changed.  Internet has made available so much information in the form of Wikipedia, talk, discussions, lectures etc.

Today members of the FFSF board will address three questions. How did we develop? What is happening about free speech today?   What does the future look like? Come join the discussion.

DETAILS

• Thursday, May 8th – Registration deadline
• Mon, May 12th – Luncheon at Institute of Culinary Arts at Eastside High School
• 11:30 – Lunch
• 12:00 – Presentation begins

 

Speaker Bios

Jay Whitehead, FFSF President
Jay Whitehead is the current and many-time president of FFSF over the past 30 years. A native of the Nation’s Capitol, he left DC in the wake of Watergate for grad school and then to Gainesville on a post-doctoral fellowship. Different from my individual research, helping start the FFSF was a miracle of cooperation of many members of our community, particularly the press, the academy, schools, churches, government and libraries. In this luncheon, he will sketch some changes in that 30 year span and join in a discussion of what the future holds.

Jon Reiskind, FFSF Vice President
Jon has been active in many groups since the 1980’s including Amnesty International and Planned Parenthood. Active in the local Democratic Party since the 90’s he chaired it from 2004-2012. More recently he chaired the Alachua County Library District Foundation and the Florida Free Speech Forum and is a board member of the Cotton Club Museum & Cultural Center. He organizes a quarterly Civics Series as part of the Community Coalition for Older Adults.

Allan March, FFSF Treasurer
Allan March is a retired physician searching for solutions to 21st century problems such as global warming, economic inequality, and threats to our democracy. Presently he is focused on developing an evidence-based mobile phone application that would reduce the risk of heat related illness in outdoor workers laboring in extreme heat by providing them with a schedule of cool-down breaks specific to their activity, time of day, and geographic location. During a recent trip to Philadelphia he visited the National Constitution Center where he viewed an exhibit on the First Amendment, the historic document whose implementation is the cornerstone of The Florida Free Speech Forum.

REGISTRATION

Registration is now closed.

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