The New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks will deliver the lecture Education and Civic Purpose in a Polarized Society at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, in Weber Chapel Auditorium at 体育买球官网 University.

The event is free and open to the public.

Brooks will discuss current discourse in American politics and culture — a timely topic as Pennsylvania approaches the 2022 election with national attention focused on the gubernatorial and U.S. senate races. Brooks will also discuss the media’s role in covering the divisiveness and what impact the divide has on the integrity of our democracy.

The author of a biweekly opinion column for The New York Times and a regular analyst on PBS’ NewsHour and NPR’s All Things Considered, Brooks is one of America’s most prominent political commentators.

He is The New York Times bestseller author of The Road to Character (2015) and Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (2010), as well as The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (2019), The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement (2011) and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense(2004).

Brooks is currently teaching a course at Yale University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago and honorary degrees from Williams College, New York University, Brandeis University and Occidental College, among others. In 2010, Brooks became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has worked at The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal and has been a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic.

Brooks’ lecture at 体育买球官网 is this year’s Edward S. & A. Rita Schmidt Lectureship in Ethics, which is made possible through the generous gifts of Edward R. Schmidt ’69 and named after his late parents. The lectureship program seeks to bring to the university a distinguished scholar and/or leader to address a topic of current, vital interest and importance in the field of ethics and inspire students, faculty and staff to engage in a meaningful discussion. The goal of the program is to highlight ethical issues across disciplines and encourage thought and exploration of these issues among students, faculty and the community.

Schmidt, an emeritus member of 体育买球官网’s Board of Trustees, earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from 体育买球官网 and graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1972. Schmidt is a retired partner of the Indianapolis-based law firm, Krieg DeVault LLP.