Sierra Club to Speak on Yale Panel on Threats to National Park Service

NEW HAVEN, CT - Sierra Club spokesperson Gerry James, deputy director of the Outdoors For All campaign, will be speaking on a panel at Yale University on Saturday, November 8, as part of an all-day symposium on "Public History in Authoritarian Times."

James will be one of five speakers on a panel titled "The Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service, Here and Now" discussing on-the-ground threats to these federal agencies and institutions, along with ideas about how to maintain fortitude and resilience. A recent executive orderdirected staff to remove signage at national parks that "disparages" American history. Critics say the effort whitewashes history on public lands and erases mentions of the impacts of climate change.

WHAT: Symposium hosted by Yale University on "Public History in Authoritarian Times" including panel discussion with the Sierra Club on threats to the National Park Service. A recent executive orderdirected staff to remove signage at national parks that "disparages" American history. Critics say the effort whitewashes history on public lands and erases mentions of the impacts of climate change.

WHEN: Saturday, November 8, 2025. The symposium runs from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, and the panel on threats to the National Park Service runs from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

WHERE:Yale University, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT (map)

WHO:Speakers on the panel "The Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service, Here and Now" include:

• Gerry Seavo James, Deputy Director, Sierra Club Outdoors for All Campaign
• Kate Masur, John D. MacArthur Professor at Northwestern University
• Chuck Sams, Inaugural Director of Indigenous Programs for the Yale Center for Environmental Justice; first Native American to serve as director of the National Park Service, 2021-2025
• Sarah Weicksel, Executive Director, American Historical Association
• Chad Williams, Tomorrow Foundation Chair of American History and Professor of History and African American and Black Diaspora Studies, Boston University
• Moderator: Stephen Pitti, Professor of History and of American Studies; Director, Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration, Yale University

MORE INFO:The symposium is free and open to the public. Learn more and RSVP at https://macmillan.yale.edu/glc/events/2025-11-08/symposium-public-history-authoritarian-times-0.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.