On April 25, the ACG and the Goethe-Institut Washington, DC will host a discussion and reception with René Pfister, U.S. Correspondent for Der Spiegel, Charles Lane, Deputy Opinion Editor and Columnist at The Washington Post, and moderated by Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Campus Free Expression Project.
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Join the American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut in Washington DC on April 25th for the second in our series Foreign Correspondent Unplugged, which delves into current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic. At this event, we will explore issues around political correctness and threats to freedom of speech. The discussion will examine how current ideological norms are increasingly influencing freedom of expression in the Western world, particularly in Europe and the USA. As we approach the European parliamentary elections in June and the U.S. presidential election in November, understanding the nuances and impacts of the ideological shifts on freedom of speech is increasingly critical.
René Pfister studied Political Science and attended the German School of Journalism in Munich. He was a reporter at the news agencies ddp and Reuters in Berlin. In 2004, he began working for DER SPIEGEL’s Berlin office, which he headed for several years. Since mid-2019, he has been DER SPIEGEL’s Bureau Chief in Washington, D.C. His best-selling book, Ein Falsches Wort – “One Wrong Word: How a New Left-Wing Ideology from America Threatens Our Freedom of Expression” – was published in 2022.
Charles Lane is Deputy Opinion Editor of The Washington Post and a Columnist for the paper’s op-ed page. A finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing, he also served as the Post’s Supreme Court correspondent between 2000 and 2007. A former editor of The New Republic, Mr. Lane has also worked as a writer and foreign correspondent for Newsweek, covering civil wars in the Balkans and Central America during the 1980s and 1990s. He is a frequent commentator on television and radio. He is the author of two works of history about post-Civil War America, “Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror” and “The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of Reconstruction.”
Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill (moderator) directs the Campus Free Expression Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC). She works with senior college leaders to provide consultative assistance and expertise in approaches that will support a campus culture that is diverse, inclusive, and open to robust intellectual exchange. Prior to joining BPC, Dr. Merrill was the Executive Director of the Fund for Academic Renewal, a program of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). Before leading ACTA’s Fund for Academic Renewal, Dr. Merrill served as ACTA’s vice president of development. Earlier in her career, she served on the faculties of St. John’s College (Annapolis), known for its Great Books curriculum, and the College of William & Mary. She has also taught at Duke University, the University of Calgary, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and in the college program at Maryland’s only prison for women. Dr. Merrill earned her BA (First Class Honours) from the University of Calgary and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University.