Parkland Students to Speak at Harvard Kennedy School
Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and others from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will participate in a conversation about the gun-control debate.
David Hogg, a student survivor from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Photo via AP/Rich Schultz)
Six student-activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will participate in a moderated conversation at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School of Government on March 20.
Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Ryan Deitsch, Matt Deitsch, and Alex Wind will join a discussion called “#NEVERAGAIN: How Parkland Students are Changing the Conversation on Guns,” according to event details. The students have galvanized gun-reform advocates around the country in the wake of the February 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 members of their school community dead.
The conversation will be moderated by Meighan Stone, a senior fellow in the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The survivors of the Parkland shooting have pushed gun control to the center of the national conversation, leveraging social and traditional media to amplify their calls for safer schools and changes to firearm policy. Since the massacre, several businesses have cut ties with the National Rifle Association, Florida passed a stricter gun law, and thousands of young people have added their voices to the debate. On Wednesday, the one-month anniversary of the shooting, students in Massachusetts and across the country walked out of class to honor the Parkland victims and to pressure lawmakers to pass gun-reform laws. According to Women’s March Youth Empower, which organized the event, more than 3,100 walkouts were planned around the world.
Dustin Chiang, the president of the Institute of Politics’ Student Advisory Committee, said in a statement to the Boston Globe that the institute is “looking forward” to hosting the students, who have “rapidly organized a nationwide movement and are currently at the center of our country’s political discourse.”
A previous version of this story misidentified Harvard Kennedy School as a school of business. It is a school of government. We regret the error.
