Soaring tariffs. Mounting layoffs. A dismantled social safety net and a fraying democracy. Americans are squeezed like never before – and the need for a fearless, watchdog media covering this widening inequality has never been greater. The Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP) is building a media that spotlights the stories – and the storytellers – often left in the shadows: the working-class and economically insecure.

Join us on September 29, 2025, at Columbia Journalism School for CLASS NOT DISMISSED, a compelling half-day event that will confront the impact of economic pressures on working Americans in the midst of an affordability crisis, bringing renowned journalists and documentarians together to explore how we tell, and who gets to tell, the urgent stories of inequality in America today.

Run of Show

8:30: Breakfast

9am: Welcoming Remarks, Duy Linh Tu, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia School of Journalism

9:10 – 9:40: Alissa Quart in conversation with Jeff Sharlet.

9:45 – 10:25: Legendary Verite: Barbara Ehrenreich and Bill Moyers’ Legacies, moderated by Alissa Quart and featuring Karla Murthy, Ray Suarez, and Reniqua Allen-Lamphere.

10:30 – 11:10: Living to Tell: The Personal Is Also News, moderated by EHRP Senior Editor Deborah Jian Lee and featuring Alex Miller, Emi Nietfeld, and Reniqua Allen-Lamphere.

11:15 – 11:25: Break

11:30  – 12:10: Labor & Poverty Reporting in the Age of Authoritarianism & Artificial Intelligence, moderated by Liza Featherstone and featuring Hamilton Nolan and Zephyr Teachout.

12:10 – 12:25: Interstitial: The Future of Storytelling about Economic Struggle, presented by EHRP Associate Editor Rachel Sanoff and featuring a multimedia presentation of EHRP’s innovative methods of reporting.

12:30 – 12:45: Closing Remarks