PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College (OLLI at BCC) presents the next installment of its Distinguished Speakers Series on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. 

 

Former Professor Tom Gerety and Professor Mai Ngai will present, "How We Got to ICE: A Conversation with One of America's Premier Historians of Immigration." The talk is free and open to all, and a Zoom link will be provided upon registration.  

 

As part of OLLI's series of discussions of laws and Constitution under President Trump, Tom Gerety will join Mae Ngai of Columbia University to explore the precedents, particularly as events unfolded in Minnesota.     

 

This event will be recorded and posted to the YouTube channel OLLI: The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College. 

 

Professor Mai Ngai holds the Lung Family chair in Asian American Studies and History. She started her career as a labor organizer and teacher in New York City and earned her PhD at Columbia University under the direction of abolition historian Eric Foner. She has written several notable books on immigration to America, including "Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and Making of Modern America" and "The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America." Ngai has won numerous awards, including the Frederick Jackson Turner prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.  

 

Tom Gerety taught constitutional law through most of his career. He retired as a Collegiate Professor of law and humanities at New York University. He headed up the Brennan Center for Justice and was president of both Trinity and Amherst Colleges. He has law and philosophy degrees from Yale.