Open VISIONS Forum to feature point-counterpoint debate at Fairfield University with influential magazine editors | Press Releases

On Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m., prominent journalists William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard , and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation , will face off in a point-counterpoint debate at what will likely be a passionate exchange on the political hot topics of Election Day 2006. The event is part of the Open VISIONS Forum lecture series, a program of University College at Fairfield University. It will take place at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

As editor of The Weekly Standard , the important political magazine based in Washington, D.C., Kristol is known as one of the country's leading political analysts and commentators. He is a steady presence on Fox News Sunday and the Fox News Channel. He is the co-author of The New York Times bestseller, "The War Over Iraq: Saddam's Tyranny and America's Mission." Before starting The Weekly Standard in 1995, he served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the George H. W. Bush administration and to Secretary of Education William Bennett under President Reagan. He led the Project for the Republican Future, guiding the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Before his Washington career, Kristol taught politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Since 1995, vanden Heuvel has been editor of The Nation , which is the most widely read weekly journal of progressive political and cultural news. She is an influential commentator on American and international politics, and she often appears on MSNBC, CNN, and PBS. She has co-edited "Taking Back America-And Taking Down The Radical Right," and "Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev's Reformers." She has written for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Boston Globe . She has received an array of awards, including Planned Parenthood's Maggie Award, the New York Civil Liberties Union's Callaway Prize for the Defense of the Right of Privacy, and The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's "Voices of Peace" award.

Both are passionate about their politics and unafraid of taking strong stances on the issues. Vanden Heuvel recently observed, "The most effective response to terrorism involves nonmilitary actions in cooperation with the global community and within a framework of domestic and international law." Kristol wrote of Former President Bill Clinton's recent interview with Chris Wallace, "Now (Clinton) wants to put out of bounds certain perfectly legitimate and straightforward questions. Can we debate which party-based on their practice when in power-can better deal with the jihadist/terror threat? No, according to Clinton. That's illegitimate right-wing propaganda."

Philip Eliasoph, Ph. D., the director and moderator of Open VISIONS Forum, said this event promises to underscore the pressing issues facing the United States. "William Kristol and Katrina vanden Heuvel are two of the most prominently respected journalists - each occupying respected voices, albeit somewhat off to the left and right polarities without hovering near the moderating center of the American press. Through their work, they implore us to take a deeper look at our government and our country's place in the world. There undoubtedly will be a passionate and dynamic dialogue befitting the upcoming Election Day."

Through an ongoing series of lively and informative lectures, Open VISIONS Forum presents eminent opinion-makers, artists, authors, learned contributors to the humanities and sciences and civic and political commentators to engage the University audience and enrich the region intellectually and culturally.

Ticket prices for this event are $35, $30 for senior citizens.