Welcome to Democracy in Action, where you will find insights and a discussion with the Fulcrum’s collaborators about some of the most talked-about topics of the previous month.

Hugo Balta, Publisher of Wisconsin Latino News, and Executive Editor of the Fulcrum, hosts a round table discussion with columnists, highlighting and unpacking their writings.

In this episode of DIA, Balta spoke with:

Michele Weldon, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty member at Northwestern University, and senior leader with The OpEd Project.

Steve Corbin, a professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

Dr. Anthony Hernandez, a member of the Teaching Faculty in the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In her column, “Did We Learn or Not? Why There Can Be No Going Back on COVID Lessons,”Did We Learn or Not? Why There Can Be No Going Back on COVID Lessons,”Michele writes that five years ago in March, COVID-19 changed the world.

“It prompted a parallel pandemic of disinformation that has only deepened in the years since and crescendoed in the last few months,” she wrote.

In the round table conversation, she said, “Disinformation is intentional to mislead people and to knowingly provide information that is false. Michele noted that misinformation from the Trump administration did not stop with the pandemic. “There seems to be no end in sight. ‘Covid is a hoax, vaccines are not real, Ukraine invaded Russia.'” Michele also said there’s aggressive action to silence people who want to call attention to disinformation.

In “Free Speech and Freedom of the Press Under Assault,” Steve wrote:

“A partial list of words that Mr. Trump has eliminated from America’s lexicon includes advocacy, biologically female, Black, clean energy, climate science, cultural heritage, disability, discrimination, diversity, equal opportunity, equity, female, females, feminism, gender, hate speech, Hispanic minority, inclusion, Latinx, LGBTQ…the list continues and you finish by writing. “Notice what words are not on Trump’s banned list: male, man, men, and White.”

Steve said that the time has come to call for action, “All citizens, all registered voters need to contact their two senators and their representative not once a month, but possibly once a week.”

In March, The Fulcrum published a few contributions from Anthony, including “The Power of the Classroom: Why Diversity in Higher Education Matters.”

He wrote: A university education is more than lectures and exams; it’s a gateway to opportunity, transformation, and belonging. Diversity in the classroom isn’t just important—it’s essential. The lack of diversity at top institutions impacts not just who enters our classrooms, but how students experience their education. Representation matters, and universities must reflect the diverse realities of the students they serve.

Anthony noted, “One in five people in the United States is Latino, but there were only two Latinos in a classroom of 100. I am concerned about diversity in the classroom, not only in terms of race, but thinking also about class, other parts of intersectionality and identity.”

Cover Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash