Lecturers are not chosen lightly

Jacquelyn Beauregard Dillman

As the co-chair of the Martin W. Witte Distinguished Speakers Lecture

Series, I am responsible for searching for and suggesting potential

speakers for the series held in the Newport Beach Public Library

under the auspices of the library and Newport Beach Public Library

Foundation. It is important the misconception expressed by City

Councilman Dick Nichols be corrected, as well as to note that

monitoring the politics of the series would be inappropriate.

Speakers are selected by timeliness of topic, name recognition,

subject expertise, availability and affordability; this criteria is

crucially important, as the series is produced on the strength of

donations to the foundation and with community sponsorship. As

co-chair, I have been responsible for bringing in speakers since the

series inception six years ago; we have never deviated from this

criteria except to add gender balancing (for which we have been

criticized this year, as the series showcases only male speakers).

Speaker selection is independent of the individual’s politics, in

contrast to Nichol’s suggestion of emphasizing this issue in choosing

speakers. Again, timeliness of subject matter is the primary issue.

All speakers are approved by the entire series committee, which is

composed of community volunteers, representatives of library staff

and two members of the Library Board of Trustees.

Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, was

selected for his latest work, “The Hydrogen Economy,” which foresees

a new economy no longer dependent on oil and fossil fuels. President

Bush made direct reference to a new hydrogen fuel cell program in his

State of the Union address; the series brought a timely issue to the

community. Rifkin’s lectures were not just sold out, they were

oversold and maintained a waiting list. We have received nothing but

kudos regarding Rifkin.

David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and honored

author (“War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals”) was

selected for his entire body of work and ability to provide

penetrating commentary about American society and politics. Given

that our country may be in active war with Iraq at the time of

Halberstam’s appearance, we are fortunate to be able to present his

insight regarding current events. The Halberstam event on May 21 and

22 is already completely sold out, oversold, and has a waiting list.

David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug

Administration, was invited to participate because most people really

don’t know the history and workings of the FDA despite that decisions

made by this government agency concerns the lives of all citizens.

His lectures on March 25 and 26 will discuss the FDA’s role in

everything from medical devices, clinical trials, drug approval

procedures, nutritional labeling on food packaging, biogenetically

modified foods as well as his personal expertise on the tobacco

industry and related politics. A small number of tickets are still

available for Kessler’s lectures, entitled: “Prescription for Life:

The FDA and You.”

Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim

Lehrer,” was selected for his interest and reportage on immigration

issues. Immigration, America’s open borders, the impact of illegal

and legal immigration on social and economic programs in both the

nation and California are serious and timely issues that need to be

addressed.

Obviously, immigration and border patrol efficiency reflect on

national security; Mr. Suarez has accepted a real challenge in

agreeing to speak on this topic. Some tickets remain on sale for his

appearance on May 16 and 17.

Howard Zinn, professor emeritus at Boston University and

revisionist historian, participated in the 2002 series, as did David

Gergen, senior editor of U.S. News and World Report and former member

of the Nixon, Ford, Bush, and Clinton White Houses. Also part of the

lecture last year were Laurie Garrett, prize-winning medical science

author, who spoke on virology, and Tod Buchholz, economist, CNBC

commentator and Wall St. Journal editorial contributor, who addressed

economic globalization.

Zinn was selected in part because one of his texts is used in AP

American history class at Newport Harbor High School and he is

revered as an “elder statesman” of American history, revisionist or

not.

As a personal project, I ask all speakers to volunteer their time

to mentor high school students in a question-and-answer session held

prior to the Saturday afternoon lecture. More than 150 students were

thrilled to meet Zinn, author of their text and to have an

intellectual exchange of ideas and debate. We are open to suggestions

regarding potential speakers and topics. The series undertook such a

survey in a formal manner this season by including a response card in

the lecture program brochure. We will be happy to make the results of

this survey known to the city council and the community.

To Mayor Steve Bromberg, Councilman Tod Ridgeway and the council

members who voted in favor of approving the council agenda item to

administer $65,000 for the Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series, I

offer my deep and personal appreciation for their confidence in the

series’ committee and support of the series.

To reassure Councilman Nichols, let me advise that I sought to

bring conservative FOX network talk show host Bill O’Reilly to speak

in the 2003 series. We couldn’t afford him.

His honorarium tipped the scales at $60,000 and the provision of a

private plane for one lecture. (Our series has a two-lecture format.)

If Nichols can put this package together, the series will be happy to

host O’Reilly in 2004!

* Jacquelyn Beauregard Dillman is co-chair of the Distinguished

Speakers Lecture Series and a member of the Newport Beach Public

Library Foundation.