Clark University Speakers Forum

 

About Us

Speakers Forum is a group that was set up by students at Clark University in 1994. Charged with bringing entertaining and informative speakers to campus and armed with a budget over $25,000, Speakers Forum brings to Clark a group of speakers on a wide array of topics.

 

Speakers Forum has a rich history that includes names such as Gloria Steinem, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Ralph Nader, Paul Begala, and Eve Ensler. Up until 2005, Speakers Forum existed to organize and fund large-scale speaking events at Clark. The speaker in spring 2005 was L. Paul Bremer, US Administrator of the reconstruction in Iraq. Due to student outrage, Speakers Forum reexamined its obligation how it brought speakers and its obligation to the student body.

 

Since the 2005-2006 academic year, Speakers Forum has been pursuing a small speaker strategy that involved bringing multiple speakers to Clark each year. It has also begun certain yearly traditions. One such tradition is Speak Week, a week-long event where a speaker on a timely issue is brought to campus every night. Speakers Forum has continued to bring large name speakers including Paul Begala in 2006, Jennifer Finney Boylan in 20007, Eve Ensler in 2008, and Norm Finkelstein in 2009. Finally, Speakers Forum has increased it collaboration with other student groups to include the Democrats of Clark, the Republicans of Clark, Open (GLBTA), Choices, Hillel, the Black Student Union, and many more.

 

The future of Speakers Forum is indeed bright. In the future, we hope to work with even more student groups. We also plan to bring even more speakers to Clark including pernail favorites such as sexologists, comedians, and drug law reformers, as well as new topics such as media bias and misandry. We look forward to serving you in this capacity for many years to come.