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Live event: What is the Role of Ethics in a Post-Truth World?

John Frohnmayer (UO Law, 1972) will give a live talk “What Is the Role of Ethics in a Post-Truth World?” Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 4 p.m. on Zoom. Registration required.

The electronic revolution gave promise of access to a world of useful information, but we seem to have found ourselves as a society with wildly different views of the truth. We are siloed and we are mad. How can we maintain our democracy when we can’t agree on a common set of facts? All citizens, but particularly lawyers, have a vital role to play here. 

Early in his career, Frohnmayer developed expertise in First Amendment and arts law and was appointed to the Oregon Arts Commission in 1977, serving as chair from 1980–84. During his tenure on the Arts Commission, the Percent for Art Program was established.

Frohnmayer was selected by President George H.W. Bush to be the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989. He took over the NEA during a turbulent time, when cultural conservatives were attacking the agency for funding work by such controversial artists as Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano. 

During his tenure at the NEA he attempted to rebuild agency morale, support important artwork, and respond to congressional critics who inserted a “decency clause” into the agency’s funding. Frohnmayer’s NEA position became untenable, and he resigned in April 1992.

He recounts the national debate over obscenity, censorship and freedom of speech in his book Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior.

A retired trial lawyer, Frohnmayer is also a competitive masters rower, a singer and guitar player, and a frequent author of commentaries for print and radio. His most recent book is Carrying the Clubs: What Golf Teaches Us About Ethics, an exploration of where ethics come from—how we decide what to value and how we will interact with our world.

Frohnmayer is the brother of the late Dave Frohnmayer, President of the University of Oregon from 1994 to 2009.

Read more about John Frohnmayer.

Read John Frohnmayer’s essay:
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