May AdBites
The First Amendment, Academic Freedom and an Unrepentant Terrorist
Presenter: Meg Lauerman, Director of Communications, UNL
When:
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Where:
Regency Park Lodge
909 S. 107th Avenue
Omaha, NE 68144
Cost:
OFA Members $25
General Public $30
Nothing is more fundamental and unassailable about being American than our First Amendment right to free speech. Nothing is more true about American politics than that public figures are ‘fair game’ in the court of public opinion. Nothing about American public universities is more true than that they are, and must be, committed to open expression of ideas, at the same time they are glass houses, open to ongoing public and media scrutiny. What happens when free speech and politics intersect during a hotly-contested presidential campaign and pose new public relations challenges for a public university?
Meg Lauerman, Director of University Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will discuss the forces in play and the controversy surrounding the scheduled, but canceled, visit to the UNL campus of Bill Ayers, a Vietnam War protester prominently featured in the presidential campaign.
Bio:
Meg Lauerman, director of University Communications since 2001, believes that the talent on the University Communications team is second to none in the nation’s top research universities, and stacks up as dynamic and innovative when compared with any communications firm in the nation. She also believes that strategic creativity in communications can and does come from all areas of the institution, and that job title has no bearing on being able to make important contributions in moving the university ahead.
Lauerman’s career “priors” include: Assistant Professor of Advertising, UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications; State Farm Insurance Co., media specialist for a four-state area; Nebraska Math & Science Initiative, communications director; Lincoln Public Schools, communications director; Nebraska ETV, senior producer; Visiting Assistant Professor of Broadcasting, UNL; Producer/writer, KOLN-TV news.
Believing that community service is an important part of life, Lauerman recently has served on the board of United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County, the Nebraska Humanities Foundation board, the Friends of Ak-Sar-Ben board, and the funeral care committee of First-Plymouth Church. She was named 2006 Public Relations Professional of the Year by the Nebraska Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Reading, golfing, biking, knitting, painting and spending time with family and friends are her favorite activities.
