In honor of a late Southeast student, the Department of Mass Media is sponsoring the annual Michael Davis Lecture from 5 to 8 p.m. on April 23 in Rose Theatre.

This is the 22nd year Southeast has held the lecture series to honor Davis, a Southeast mass communications student who died following a hazing incident in 1994.

The 2018 lecture format will be different than past years. Instead of one or two speakers, a panel of Southeast faculty and community members will hold a discussion after a documentary titled “13th”. It is an award winning and oscar nominated film produced by Ava DuVernay.

“We thought this documentary was relevant to Michael Davis because we’re going to look at how this documentary explains issues of crime, criminal justice, the American prison system and slavery,” associate professor of mass media Tamara Zellars Buck said.

The panelists include Steven Hoffman from the history department, Morris Jenkins from the criminal justice department, Hammer Hill, chair of the department of political science, and philosophy, and Bret Cormier, education leadership and counseling professor. “These professors were chosen to speak at the lecture this year because of their expertise with civil rights issues,” Zellars Buck said.

Bob Miller, managing editor of the Southeast Missourian is also on the panel. He has been detailing events in the David Robinson case, a controversial murder-conviction case now before the Missouri Supreme Court.

“We are hoping that showing a documentary and having professors from different departments speak will make this lecture more appealing to not only mass comm students, but criminal justice, education, history, and all other students at Southeast,” Zellers Buck said.

“The Mass Media Department hopes to continue to honor Michael Davis in this new way. The lecture is free and open to the public; they hope to see a full house,” Zellars Buck said.