Kegley Institute of Ethics Panels are held throughout the academic year and focus on topics of interest and at issue in our community. Panels are composed of KIE personnel, Calfornia State University, Bakersfield faculty members, and local experts on a given topic. These events are intended to cultivate constructive dialogue on topics of importance for our community and, in turn, to stimulate productive community response and action. Examples of panel topics include human trafficking, race and law enforcement, privacy rights, climate change, bioethcs, health care, and free speech.
Past Panels
February 2019: “Immigration Behind Bars: Activist, Legal, and Education Perspectives.” Panelists: Jeannie Parent, KWESI; Ambar Tovar, UFW Foundation; Dr. Adam Sawyer, CSUB Teacher Education Department; Micah Nillson, Zimmer & Melton, LLP (moderator). This event was co-hosted by the CSUB Pre-Law Society.
October 2018: “Marijuana Policy and Kern County: A Community Conversation.” Panelists: Dr. Josh Meisel, Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research; Professor Dirk Horn, CSUB Political Science Department; Ana Olvera, Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services; Dr. Michael D. Burroughs, Kegley Institute of Ethics (moderator). This event was co-hosted by the CSUB Walter W. Stiern Library.
January 2018: "Executive Order 9066: The History, Lessons, and Legacy of Japanese Internment." Panelists: Dr. Douglass Dodd, CSUB Department of History; Dr. Isao Fujimoto, UC Davis and former camp internee; Ms. Mary Higashi, former camp internee; Dr. Jeanine Kraybill, CSUB Department of Political Science; Dr. Michael Burroughs, KIE Director (moderator). This event was co-sponsored by KIE, the CSUB Public History Institute and the Walter Stiern Library at CSUB.
November 2017: "Free Speech on Campus: A Panel and Dialogue." Panelists: Dr. Michael Burroughs, KIE Director; Dr. Ivy A.M. Cargile, CSUB Department of Political Science; Dr. Jeanine Kraybill, CSUB Department of Political Science; Dr. Nate Olson, KIE Associate Director (moderator).
April 2017: "The Global Fight Against Human Trafficking: The Kern County Perspective." Panelists: Michael Fagans, Coordinator, Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking; Sandy Woo, Human Trafficking Advocate, Alliance Against Family Violence & Sexual Assault; Professor Patrick Henry, Department of Social Work, CSUB; Josh Finney, Detective, Bakersfield Police Department; Dr. Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator.
March 2017: "What Happened to all the Trees? Climate Change and the Sierra Nevada Die-Off." A panel discussion hosted by KIE, CSUB's CREST Grant and the CSUB Art Department. Panelists: Adrian Das, USGS Ecologist, Western Ecological Research Center; Max Moritz, UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management; Joyce Kohl, CSUB Art Department; Beverly M. Bulaon, Forest Entomologist, USDA Forest Service; Brandon Pratt, CSUB Biology Department, Moderator.
December 2016: "How Did We Get Here and Where Are We Going?: Reflections on the Presidential Election." Panelists: Dr. Ivy Cargile, Professor of Political Science, CSUB; Dr. Douglas Dodd, Professor of History, CSUB; Steven Mayer, The Bakersfield Californian; Lou Medina, Kern County Human Relations Commission; David Womack, Executive Director, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, Kern County, Co-Moderator; Dr. Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Co-Moderator.
Fall 2016: KIE, in partnership with One Book, One Bakersfield, One Kern, hosted the panel discussion "The Ethics of Water Distribution in the San Joaquin Valley." This event, attended by 100+ campus and community members, was one of a series of events surrounding the community's reading of The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman.
May 2016: "We Are All Trayvon Martin: The Conversation Continues." The Kern County Human Relations Commission, in partnership with KIE, hosted a panel disscussion as part of its May 2015 commission meeting. Panelists: The Honorable Michael Bush, Lisa Green, District Attorney; Konrad Moore, Public Defender; T.R. Merickel, Probation Department; Dr. Brad Cloud, Kern County Mental Health; Lt. Joe Mullins, Bakersfield Polic Department; Jan Hefner, Past Recipient of KIE Wendy Wayne Award for Ethical Behavior.
April 2016: "After Trayvon, What?: Enhancing Relations Between Law Enforcement and the Public." Panelists: Rhonda Dugan, PhD, Sociology, CSUB; Danny Morrison, HOT 94.1 Radio Personality; Marcus Duarte Smith, Bakersfield Faith in Action; Greg Williamson, Chief, Bakersfield Police Department; Christopher Meyers, PhD, Moderator.
January 2014: A panel in response to the lecture "If Steinbeck was a Farmer," featuring David "Mas" Masumoto, renowned organic farmer and author. Panelists: Jill Egland, Director of Community Development, United Way of Kern County; Aaron Hegde, Director of CSUB's Environmental Resource Management Program; Fatima Hernandez, BIA Accredited Representative, UFW Foundation; JacKie Kegley, Lifetime KIE Associate, Moderator.
February 2013: "Gun Violence: Causes and Cures." Panelists: Ralph Bailey, Radio Host, KNZR's "The Ralph Baily Show"; Greg Williamson, Chief of Police, BPD; Brik McDill, Director, Mental Health Services of Kern County; Terry Phillips, Journalist, Author and Media Consultant; Christopher Meyers, Moderator, Director, Kegley Institute of Ethics.
February 2012: "Ethics, Justice and the Mortgage Crisis." Panelists: Louis Gill, Director, Bakersfield Homeless Center; Aaron Hegde, Associate Professor, Economics, CSUB; Steve Renock, President/CEO Kern Schools Federal Credit Union; Christopher Meyers, Moderator.
May 2011: "Public or Private Information? Right to Know vs. Right to Privacy." Panelists: Lois Henry, The Bakersfield Californian; Christopher Meyers, PhD, Kegley Institute of Ethics; Russ Albro, Kern County Sheriff's Department; Michael Trihey, KGET Channel 17 News; Jennifer Baldwin, Moderator, CSUB Public Relations Editor, Bakersfield Express.
May 2010: "The Future of Journalism Ethics: Sustaining Foundational Values in a Changing Profession." Panelists: Jennifer Baldwin, Editor, Bakersfield Express; Michael Jenner, Editor, Bakersfield Californian; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, CSUB; Michael Trihey, Assistant News Director, KGET Channel 17 News; Professsor Danny Edwards, Bakersfield College, Moderator.
January 2010: "Taxation and a Duty Toward One's Community." A campus colloquium following a public lecture by Dr. Michael Davis, Professor of Philosophy, Illinois Institute of Technology.
April 2009: "Ethics and Climate Change: The Future of Life in California." A follow-up panel to the lecture by paleo-anthropologist Richard Leakey. Panelists: Aaron Hegde, Director, CSUB Environmental Resource Management Program; Ted Murphy, CSUB Biology Professor Emeritus; Bill Phillimore, Chairman, Kern County Water Bank; Udak Ntuk, Chevron Reservoir Engineer.
March 2009: "Acting from Duty and from Conscience: Health Care Professionals and Moral Exemption from Duty." Panel discussion featuring campus and community experts: Jennifer Black, MD, Kaiser Permanente; Sandy Johnson, RN, San Joaquin Community Hospital; Wendy Crenshaw, MD, San Dimas Medical Group; Christopher Meyers, PhD, CSUB; Robert Woods, JD, Moderator.
February 2009: "Campus Culture and Ethics: The Foundations of Shared Governance." Panelists: Sophia Adjaye, Professor, English Department; Jess Deegan, CSUB Academic Senate; Tina Giblin, Communications and Political Science Administrator; Bruce Hartsell, Professor, Social Work Department; Horace Mitchell, CSUB President; Jackie Kegley, Professor, Philosophy & Religious Studies Department, Moderator.
February 2008: "Fast Food, Fast Lives, Fast Misery." Local experts discuss Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Panel members: Dean Davis, MD, Medical Director of the Florence Wheeler Cancer Center; Aaron Hegde, PhD, Director of Environmental Resources Management Program, CSUB; Jennifer Lopez, Kern County Lead for the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator.
April 2008: "Capital Punishment: Our Local Perspective." Panel members: Mark Arnold, Kern County Public Defender's Office; Anthony Flores, Professor, Criminal Justice, CSUB; Steven Gamboa, Professor, Philosophy, CSUB; Ed Jagels, Kern County District Attorney; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator.
January 2008: "Ethics and Land Development." Panel members: Gordon Nipp, Kern-Kaweah Sierra Club; David Price, Director, Kern County Resource Management Agency; Brian Todd, Executive VP, Kern Building Industry Association; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator.
March 2007: KIE, in partnership with One Book, One Bakersfield, One Kern, hosted the panel discussion "All the King's Men and Contemporary Political Life." Panelists: Judge Robert Tafoya, Kern County Superior Court; Michael Ault, CSUB Political Science Department; Alicia Rodriquez, CSUB History Department; Jeremy Adams, BHS Social Studies Instructor; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator.
April 2007: "Human Rights and International Justice." A panel of local experts discussed President Mary Robinson's call upon all of us to promote universal human rights. Panelists: Bill Phillimore, Vice President for Paramount Farming; Gonzalo Santos, CSUB Sociology; and Wendy Wayne, International Activist; Christopher Meyers, KIE Director, Moderator. The panel was part of CSUB's first annual Celebrate CSUB Day.
February 2007: "Seeing Out of Bounds." A panel discussion on the Todd Madigan Gallery's exibition "Under the Veil: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan." Panelists: Rachel Bzostek, CSUB political science professor; Stephen Campagna-Pinto, CSUB Philosophy and Religious Studies Department; Rebecca Weller, CSUB Art Department; and Michael Johnson, Todd Madigan Gallery Director; Dr. Christopher Meyers, Moderator.
January 2006: "The Morality of Stem Cell Research." Panelists: Rabbi Paul Gordon, B'Nnai Jacob Congregation in Bakersfield; Jacquelyn A. Kegley, CSUB philosophy professor; April Pyle, professor at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA; Monsignor Ronald Swett, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Bakersfield; Dr. Christopher Meyers, Moderator.
May 2005: "Physician Assisted Suicide: Should the California Compassionate Choice Act Become Law?" Panel discussion featuring campus and Community experts.
March 2005: "Open Conversations or Closed Minds?: Political Diversity and the American College Experience." Panel discussion featuring national experts as part of the 2005 Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Annual Meeting, held in Bakersfield.
November 2004: "Ethics and Rape Prosecutions." Panel discussion featuring campus and community experts.
October 2004: "Futile Treatment: Medical, Legal and Ethical Perspectives," featuring Dr. Catherine Monti, Cook County Hospital, with commentary by Christopher Meyers (Institute Director) and Karen Barnes, Office of Kern County Counsel.
February 2004: "Ethics, Conservation and Field Biology: A View from the Trenches," featuring Dr. Phil Pister, renown field biologist and conservationist.
February 2003: "Caring for the Most Vulnerable: A Health Care Crisis in Kern County?" Panel discussion featuring campus and community experts.
November 2002: "Privacy, Public Records and The Public's Right to Know." Panel Discussion featuring campus and community experts.
April 2002: "In God We Trust?" Panel Discussion featuring campus and community experts.
February 2002: "Terrorism, War and The Politics of the Middle East." Panel Discussion featuring Ray Geigle with comments by Greg Goodwin and Said Mohammed.
November 2001: "Power and Profit: The History and Ethics of California's Energy Crisis." Panel Discussion featuring campus and area experts.
