Wesley Student Center and United Methodist Church at the U. of I. have been sponsoring a monthlong exploration of race and violence in America. The final event will be a panel discussion at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 4 featuring Travis Dixon, a U. of I. professor of communication, and Monica McDermott, a U. of I. professor of sociology, as well as Champaign Mayor Deb Frank Feinen and Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb.
The panel will discuss race relations and violence in the local community and across America and will take questions from the audience.
Dixon is a media effects scholar who studies the prevalence of stereotypes in the mass media and their impact on audience members, with much of his past focus on television news. McDermott's research focuses on the ways in which race and class interact in the U.S., and she is the author of the book “Working-Class White: The Making and Unmaking of Race Relations.”