Author-activist Noam Chomsky to speak at Phillips Tuesday evening

October 14, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Renowned professor and political activist Noam Chomsky will speak at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Floriday campus.

Chomsky is professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of America’s most prominent authors and political dissidents. He is being brought to campus by the Civic Media Center of Gainesville. The program is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. They will be available from noon to 6 p.m. today at the Phillips Center box office. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.

A Pennsylvania native, Chomsky received his doctorate in linguistics in 1955 from the University of Pennsylvania. Chomsky was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard University Society of Fellows from 1951 to 1955. His work has had a profound and lasting influence on all cognitive sciences. In 1955, Chomsky joined the staff of MIT and was appointed full professor in 1961. In 1976, he was appointed Institute Professor in the department of linguistics and philosophy. Since then, he has received multiple awards including the Sydney Peace Prize and the Erich Fromm Prize and numerous honorary degrees from universities around the world.

Chomsky writes and speaks frequently on a variety of social and political issues. He advocates popular struggle for greater democracy and he has authored more than 100 books including “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media” with Edward Herman, “Pirates and Emperors: International Terrorism in the Real World,” “The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many” with David Barsamian, and “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance.” As an advocate for free speech and equality, Chomsky has spoken out against U.S. foreign policy and the mainstream media.

The last time Chomsky visited Gainesville, he was brought by the Civic Media Center to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The center – Gainesville’s own library of the independent and non-corporate press and community organizing space  – is now celebrating its 20th anniversary with Chomsky’s return.