WMU

The Founder of the Dangerous Speech Project says when someone carries out an act of violence like the recent shooting at a mosque in New Zealand, it often follows “dangerous speech.” Susan Benesch will deliver the annual Winnie Veenstra Peace lecture at Western Michigan University Monday night at 6:00 in the Bernhard Center. Her address is called Social Media and Mass Violence.

The Founder of the Dangerous Speech Project says it’s fear, not hatred, that often inspires acts of violence. Susan Benesch studies the type of speech that causes people to commit, or condone violence. Benesch will deliver the annual Winnie Veenstra Peace Lecture at Western Michigan University. Her address called Social Media and Mass Violence begins at 6:00p.m. Monday March 25th in the Bernhard Center. 

Benesch says dangerous speech can lead to violence when people are afraid. The fear may be of another racial group or of immigrants. She says political leaders can inspire violence with dangerous speech. Benesch says it can also be a celebrity or religious figure.

Cara Lieurance talks to David Binney about why he moved back to California after nearly 38 years in the New York jazz scene, and how his restless creativity leads him to new projects. 

Retired Western Michigan University professor Miriam Bat-Ami crosses many literary genres. She writes books for kids and young adults as well as memoirs, creative nonfiction, and fiction for adults. To choose her genre, she considers her audience and asks, "Who will be part of this conversation?" With her new poetry collection, Measuring the Marigolds (Caffeinated Press, 2018), Bat-Ami speaks to adults experiencing the ups, downs, and in-betweens of family relationships.

Western Michigan University Professor Tiffany Schriever and a team of students spend part of their time from spring to fall in the coastal wetlands near Lake Michigan. The Professor of Biological Sciences says they look in the places between dunes along the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan. “That’s about four degrees of latitude and over 500 miles." Schriever says that leads to large variations in the species they find.