College of Business

about understanding and responding to computational propaganda operations. In 2017, Renee was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar, and had the opportunity to continue her work with the support of the Presidents Bush, President Clinton, and the LBJ Foundation. Previously, Renee was part of the founding team of venture-backed supply chain logistics technology platform Haven, where she ran business development and marketing. Renee has also been an investor at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), focused on hardware and logistics startups, and an emerging markets derivatives trader at Jane Street Capital. Her work and writing have been featured in the New York Times, Politico, Wired, Slate, Fast Company, Inc., and the Economist. She is the author of the O’Reilly book “The Hardware Startup: Building Your Product, Business, and Brand”, and lives on the web at http://reneediresta.com and @noUpside.

He focuses on constitutional law and on bankruptcy law, particularly Chapter 11 business reorganizations. He has served as the chair of the Constitutional Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, as co-chair of the Law & Religion Section, and as a member of the first executive committee of the recently formed Election Law Section. For six years, Scarberry was the moderator (or chair) of the Presbyterian Church USA’s Advisory Committee on Litigation, which advises the denominational leadership on issues involving the U.S. Constitution and on amicus briefs that may be filed in the Supreme Court. He was deeply involved in the 2000 election dispute, helping to develop the theory embraced by three of the Justices in their Bush v. Gore concurring opinion. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on legislation designed to deal with the 2007-2010 home mortgage crisis, and many years before had testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, as it was considering whether to propose a school prayer amendment. Scarberry currently moderates the Conlawprof listserv, which has over 500 members, including prominent professors of constitutional law (most of whom are harder to herd than cats).

He has a degree in Political Science from the University of Montana. After graduating Erik was founding partner and publisher of the Missoula Independent. He sold that paper some years later and then worked as general manager of the weekly paper in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He moved to California to join what was then called Coast Weekly in 1999.

In addition to his job duties, Erik Cushman is very active in the community. He has served on lots of local boards, coached soccer, sat on the school site council etc. These days his volunteer time is spent primarily in promoting economic development as the chair of the Monterey County Workforce Development Board and as a member of the executive committee of the California News Publishers Association.

He is married to Kristin Cushman, the CEO of Blue Strike Environmental; they have 17 and 19-year-old daughters and live in Pacific Grove.

During her tenure there the paper won multiple awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the First Amendment Coalition. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

David was a founding member, with David Sobel and Shari Steele, of the Internet Free Expression Alliance, and currently serves on the Northern California Society for Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Committee, the steering committee of the Free Expression Network, the governing committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law, and on advisory boards for several arts and free speech organizations across the country. David is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he teaches classes in First Amendment and media law and an instructor in the journalism department at San Francisco State University. He has written and lectured extensively on many areas of First Amendment Law, including as a contributor to the International Encyclopedia of Censorship. Before joining EFF, David was for twelve years the Executive Director and Lead Staff Counsel for First Amendment Project, where he worked with EFF on numerous cases including Bunner v. DVDCCA. David also previously served as program director of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression where he was the principal contributor and general editor of the NCFE Quarterly and the principal author of the NCFE Handbook to Understanding, Preparing for and Responding to Challenges to your Freedom of Artistic Expression. He also practiced with the firms Bryan Cave LLP and Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft. He is a 1991 graduate of Duke University School of Law.

David's work has been recognized by California Lawyer magazine as a 2013 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year, and by the SPJ Northern California as the recipient of its 2007 James Madison Freedom of information Award for Legal Counsel. He was also awarded The Hon. Ira A. Brown Adjunct Faculty Award by USF Law School in 2012.

She earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in Rhetorical Studies. Her research interests focus on public discourse in political and religious contexts. She is also developing and exploring an interest in the intersections between communication ethics and technology.

Arts, humanities and social science; business; and science constitute three critical pillars of our democracy. The colleges that represent these three areas have come together again to bring leading thinkers to the Monterey Peninsula to debate the issues underlying a critical threat to democracy – “fake news” that has the potential to destroy it.

What is the impact on democratic discourse when fact and fiction, truth and untruth, opinion and evidence cannot be differentiated or discerned? Can the discernment and regulation of ‘fake news” be squared with our First Amendment rights? What responsibilities do journalists, media companies, search engines and social media platforms have in self-regulating “fake news”, particularly those which are accessible to young people? These are some of the questions that the “fake news” forum will tackle.

At its best, the Forum represents engagement across colleges and disciplines to address important issues of our time and provide an opportunity to bring together our knowledge and skills to explore the ethical underpinnings of business practices. This year’s presentation raises key questions regarding the impact of “fake news” and the importance of sorting out reliable sources for information essential to democratic deliberations.

Thank you for joining us for this important conversation.

The pursuit for an informed electorate has been a central struggle in our democracy since its founding. Similarly, information and disinformation has been a central tool in politics throughout history. Today, technological advances have made it possible for individuals to have a voice through social media platforms, while the same technology allows individuals, corporations and state actors to sow disinformation and propaganda. How to preserve "light and liberty" presents us with extraordinarily complex ethical questions which touch on many aspects of our democracy. I look forward to an engaging conversation.