Lauren Hill COMM260W

Distinguished Speaker: Nina Totenberg UNIVERSITY PARK- Offering up many comical statements to start, American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio Nina Totenberg kicked off the distinguished speaker series by softening the audience Tuesday night in the Eisenhower auditorium.

I shouldve offered a strip tease to get people to attend this distinguished speaker event, said Totenberg glancing over an audience of roughly 150 individuals of all ages in an auditorium that holds 2,500 people.

Totenberg ran through a series of topics involving governmental decisions coinciding with the Supreme Court. The topics she discussed included: same sex marriage, Obamacare, previous presidential conflicts, etc.

Same sex marriage was the basis of her speech. Same sex marriage is new idea that is coming into fruition in the 21st century, Totenberg said.

The audience was privileged to learn about the logistics of same sex marriage in the United States. There are about 100,000 same sex couples in this country who are ineligible for rights that heterosexual couples have.

Same sex couples are ineligible for survivor and disability benefits, filing for taxes and government employee benefits.

These ineligibilities generate from the Supreme Court but each state has their own laws either reprimanding same sex marriage or supporting it.

This type of coverage isnt new to Totenberg but she has experience elsewhere.

When first covering the court Totenberg was exposed to cases pertaining to civil rights and the Vietnam War. After much experience she has covered the Obama healthcare overhaul, war on terror, Bush Vs. Gore and U.S. Vs. Nixon.

Before joining NPR in 1975, Totenberg worked for the New Times Magazine as Washington editor. And prior to that she was the legal affairs correspondent for the National Observer.

Totenberg has been honored eight times by the American Bar Association for continued excellence in legal reporting and has a number of honorary degrees.

In the conclusion of her speech she opened up the floor to questions. Many dealt with lingering concerns.

Copyright infringement was a topic of discussion. With a short but sweet answer Totenberg said, if you think you can download torrents and copyrighted files for free, it aint gonna happen.

This distinguished speaker left some audience members with opinions and comments. I think the speaker did a good job of including humor in order to make her message easier to digest. She talked about the Supreme Court and how their decisions affect our lives closer than we know, said Dominique Garrett (Junior-BBH).

Totenberg elaborated on current issues and presented them in a factual manner. I think she was really good at keeping the audience engaged in what she was talking about. Her views on gay marriage were educated and the way she went about talking about it was not offensive in any way. You can tell she knows what shes talking about, Said Sarah Tucci (JuniorInternational Politics)

The Pennsylvania State University Student Programing Association sponsored this event.