Author Paul Tough to Speak on Injustices of Higher Education

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Paul Tough event originally schedule for Feb. 15 is being rescheduled for a date yet to be determined in the fall.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, author and journalist Paul Tough will speak at Gonzaga University on injustices and inequities in higher education as part of the Provost Speaker Series.

Tough will be speaking on the injustices of higher education with a focus on the pandemic era, looking at the fairness of admissions, the reality of entrenched racial barriers and crushing student debt. His recent book, The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us (previously titled The Years That Matter Most), examines how the landscape of higher education has shifted and who the university system really serves.

“At other moments of change in American history, we’ve managed to pull together and create and fund education systems that respond to the needs of our young people,” Tough said in a Q&A on his website. “This time around, we’re failing.

Tough is an author, journalist and speaker on topics including education, parenting, equity and student success. He is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, and his writing has appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, GQ, Esquire and the New York Times. He has worked as an editor at the New York Times Magazine and Harper’s Magazine and founded the online magazine, Open Letters. His book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller lists and was translated into 27 languages.

Tough’s appearance on Wednesday, Feb. 15, starts at 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Hemmingson Center Ballroom on the Gonzaga campus, and will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.