Second Annual Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Susan Biniaz
Camarillo, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 — Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter James Grimaldi of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is the first of three presenters in the Second Annual Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Speaker Series at CSU Channel Islands (CI).
Grimaldi’s presentation, called “Is Investigative Reporting Dead?” will be on Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. to Noon on the CI campus.
The other two presenters are U.S. Department of State Lead Climate Lawyer Susan Biniaz and her husband, U.S. Department of State Assistant Legal Adviser Robert Harris.
“An Insider’s View on the Outcomes of the Paris Climate Agreement,” by Biniaz will take place from 10 a.m. to Noon on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
Harris will discuss America’s concerns about the tensions in the South China Sea during his presentation: “Contemporary Flash Point: Legal and Policy Issues in the South China Sea.”
His presentation will be from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 17. All three lectures will take place Del Norte Hall Room 1500 on the CI campus.
James Grimaldi
Grimaldi was working for the Washington Post when he won a Pulitzer in 2006 for his investigative reporting into former lobbyist Jack Allan Abramoff. Abramoff later went to prison for fraud and corruption, among other charges, in connection with his lobbying for American Indian casinos. Further investigation resulted in 21 others either pleading or being found guilty in connection with the corruption scandal.
Grimaldi is now working for The Wall Street Journal, where he specializes in politics and global money laundering, among other things. He is currently doing investigative reports on the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation while others on the WSJ staff are looking into Trump and his financial dealings.
Grimaldi will speak about the importance of investigative journalism to the public and give his take on the 2016 election, among other things.
“Investigative journalism is crucial to democracy because it uncovers public corruption that can infiltrate and damage democracy,” Grimaldi said. “You have to have an honest government in order to function as a democracy.”
The Paris Climate Agreement in Dec. 2015 resulted in 195 countries agreeing to do their part to combat the effects of climate change.
Secretary of State John Kerry credited Biniaz with behind-the-scenes contributions that helped make this historic multi-national agreement a reality.
Biniaz said the biggest challenges the team faced at the Paris summit were to come up with a suitably ambitious environmental plan and bringing all countries on board, according to their various situations and capabilities.
Earlier attempts to reach an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, most notably at the Copenhagen conference in 2009, had not been successful. So Biniaz and the rest of the U.S. team had their work cut out for them.
“People were seeing this as the last chance to reach an agreement, so the stakes were high,” Biniaz said. “On most issues, it was a matter of striking the right balance."
Robert Harris
Assistant Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State, Robert Harris, will speak from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on the international tensions in the South China Sea, which are threatening to boil over.
“Contemporary Flash Point: Legal and Policy Issues in the South China Sea” will include an explanation of what’s being hailed by the international press as the “trial of the century,” which took place in the Hague on July 12.
Essentially long-simmering territorial and maritime disputes over, among China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have come to head over the last few years, raising concerns about whether these conflicts can be managed peacefully.
With $5 trillion dollars of global trade traversing the South China Sea every year, the stakes for the international community, including the U.S., are great.
“While the United States does not take positions on which claimant has sovereignty over particular disputed islands, the United States does have a strong interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes without the use or threat of force and in compliance with international law, including the international law of the sea,” Harris said.
According to Extended University Director of Operations Nick Fuentes, who also oversees the OLLI program, the speaker series is a free offering to the campus and the community as a means of thanking CI and the area for its support of the OLLI program.
This event is concluded
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About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands(CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CI's Social Media.