Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates Announce Politically Minded Fall Season and Six Years Of Milestone Growth

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Debaters Confirmed Include Robert Reich, Glenn Hubbard, Michael Shermer 

New Season Begins September 12th at New NYC Venue, Kaufman Center

New York, NY July 27, 2012--Influential public policy debate series Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US) announces it's thirteenth season of six provocative new debates this fall.  Beginning September 12th at new venue Kaufman Center, this season will cover some of the most pressing issues of this year's Presidential election while providing a new forum for intelligent, informed discussion.  With topics from foreign policy, Super PACs, taxing the rich, and the war on drugs, IQ2US continues to encourage respect for opposing viewpoints.  Confirmed debaters include Robert Reich, Glenn Hubbard, Michael Shermer.

Founded in New York City in 2006 by Robert Rosenkranz, IQ2US has grown into an internationally syndicated series heard and watched by millions on over 220 National Public Radio stations, through podcast, public television's digital channel WORLD, and live online stream via Fora.tv. The series attracts some of the world's top thinkers- Paul Krugman, Karl Rove, Buzz Bissinger, Michael Chertoff, Arianna Huffington, Malcolm Gladwell, and Fareed Zakaria, to name just a few.

Here's how IQ2US has grown in 2012:

* Nationwide NPR audience: IQ2US has gone from broadcasting on 40 stations to 220+ and has become one of NPR's most popular public affairs podcasts praised by Forbes and with over 100,000+ monthly subscribers. 

* TV syndication: Debates can be watched nationally via syndication through public television's WORLD channel and can be viewed on PBS stations WNET Thirteen, NJTV, WLIW in the New York metro area.

* Nationwide expansion: The series reaches thousands around the world via live online stream in partnership with Fora.tv. IQ2US recently hosted inaugural debates in Washington D.C., Aspen, and Chicago.

In 2012, debates were featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Men's Health, Forbes, and panelists appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe and WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss some of the series' timely propositions.

As the Presidential and U.S. Senate elections approach this fall, Intelligence Squared U.S. is committed to providing an alternative to the toxically emotional and reflexively ideological elements of the 24-hour news cycle. The series strives to heighten public discourse with entertaining, provocative, original and honest Oxford-style debates.

John Donvan, correspondent for ABC News Nightline, is moderator of Intelligence Squared US debates. Dana Wolfe is the executive producer.

The IQ2US fall 2012 season will feature debates on the following motions (other panelists TBD; motions and panelists subject to change):

September 12

Two cheers for Super PACs

Debaters TBA

October 4

(Debate on Muslim Brotherhood or Syria topic TBA, monitoring news)

Debaters TBA

October 10 (at Chicago Ideas Week)

Ration end-of-life care  

Debaters TBA

October 24

The rich are taxed enough

(co-sponsored by Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy, administered jointly by Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School)

FOR: 

Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia Business School and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury 

Arthur Laffer, former member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, "the Father of Supply -Side Economics," and President of Laffer Associates

AGAINST: 

Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and former Secretary of Labor

TBD 

November 14

Legalize drugs

FOR:

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, Associate Professor of Law at Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University

Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com, the online platforms of Reason, the libertarian magazine of "Free Minds and Free Markets"

AGAINST:

Theodore Dalrymple, writer, retired prison doctor and psychiatrist 

TBD

December 5

Science refutes God

FOR:

Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist, Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration

Michael Shermer, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author

AGAINST:

Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT

Dinesh D'Souza, President of The King's College and author

Tickets are on sale now through the Kaufman Center at http://bit.ly/HE1QgB

To view transcripts and videos, download audio or video clips or learn more about Intelligence Squared U.S. please visit: http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org

ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATES (IQ2US)

Named One of "Five Podcasts that Will Change the Way You Think" by Forbes: http://onforb.es/zWuDaI

Rethink your point of view with Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US), Oxford-style debates live from New York City.

Inspired by the highly successful Intelligence Squared debate program based in London, Intelligence Squared U.S. has presented over 60 debates on a wide range of provocative and timely topics. From banning college football and global warming to the financial crisis, Afghanistan/Pakistan and the death of mainstream media, Intelligence Squared U.S. brings together the world's leading authorities on the day's most important issues.

Since its inception in 2006, the goals of The Intelligence Squared U.S. Foundation have been to provide a new forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis; to transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological; and to encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views.

The Rosenkranz Foundation initiated the Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate Series and continues to provide major support.

Press Contacts:
 
Andrea Bussell
718.522.7171
abussell@shorefire.com
 
Rebecca Shapiro
718.522.7171
rshapiro@shorefire.com
 
Mark Satlof
718.522.7171
msatlof@shorefire.com          

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