Melinda Henneberger, an opinion writer who won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her searing editorial series exposing abuse in the Kansas City, Kansas, police force, will offer a free public speech at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at Florida Tech.
Henneberger will be the keynote speaker for the 14th annual Free Speech Week hosted by Florida Tech’s student-run newspaper, The Crimson.
Free Speech Week started in 2012 as a reminder to the university community that The Crimson and other student media organizations make editorial decisions free from university involvement.
The weeklong celebration starts with a poetry slam open mic on Monday, Feb. 17 in the Rat at 7 p.m. and a “free speech wall” demonstration outside the SUB on Tuesday, Feb. 18, where passersby may write the content of their choice on the temporary structure.
Journalists from Florida Today will hold a panel discussion on challenges and opportunities in local news on Thursday, Feb. 20. The panel will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Link Room on the second floor of Evans Library. It is free and open to the public.
The week will conclude Friday, Feb. 21 with “Live Free or Eat Free: You can’t do both.” The First Amendment comes to life in this exercise hosted by The Crimson as students get a free meal from a local food truck in exchange for their First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment has long been a critical shield for journalists seeking the truth, and that is certainly the case with Henneberger, the keynote speaker. A Pulitzer finalist from 2019 to 2021, she wrote vividly in her winning 2022 series about a retired detective’s abuse of the system and predatory ways with vulnerable women he would coerce into becoming informants before sexually assaulting and exploiting them.
She has been a reporter for The New York Times and a fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Henneberger’s 5:30 p.m. address will be in the Hartley Rom on the second floor of the Denius Student Union Building.
“Local journalism matters,” said Ted Petersen, an associate professor of journalism at Florida Tech and adviser to The Crimson. “If not for Melinda Henneberger’s work, those stories would not be told, and those victims would not find justice.”
For more information, contact Petersen at 321-674-7201 or tpetersen@fit.edu.
