Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh to speak

The University of Washington Tacoma’s 2011 Paulsen Lecture series features investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh, best known for exposing the cover-up of the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam in 1969. More recently, the controversial journalist wrote about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in a series of articles in The New Yorker.

Hersh’s journalistic work has earned him a National Magazine Award for his book, The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House; an Overseas Press Club award; the National Press Foundation’s Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism award; five George Polk Awards and the 2004 George Orwell Award.

The Hersh event, slated for 7 p.m., Oct. 18, is free, but seating is limited and registration is required.

"Sy Hersh restores my hope for our future," said State Rep. Larry Seaquist (D-Gig Harbor), who helped planners contact Hersh for the Paulsen Lecture. "At a time of deep public distrust of government, Sy Hersh continues to show us how to keep our democracy on track."

The lecture series is endowed by the Arthur R. and Anna Mae Paulsen Endowed Visiting Chair in Public Affairs. UW alumnus and Tacoma native Arthur Paulsen was deeply moved by a lecture he heard in 1939 by British socialist Harold Laski, who came to UW as a guest speaker through the Walker-Ames Lecture Series.

Nearly 70 years later, Paulsen, then a retired judge and state legislator, decided to give back to his alma mater and his hometown at the same time. His pledge of $1 million created the Arthur R. and Anna Mae Paulsen Endowed Visiting Chair in Public Affairs, an annual lecture series designed to bring provocative, nationally known speakers to the UW Tacoma campus.

The Paulsen lecturer delivers a major public address to campus and meets with students. The first Paulsen lecturer was James Carville, who spoke on campus in 2009.

Paulsen, deceased, hoped that speakers of this caliber would spark public discourse, create future generations of informed citizens and inspire today’s students to change the world.