Department Information

Our colleague in the CSU East Bay Political Science Department and veteran activist journalist
Larry Bensky passed away on May 19, 2024, at his home in Berkeley, California. Before and
during the time he taught in our department, he was an internationally recognized journalist
who worked at local radio station, KPFA. As noted in a Berkeleyside remembrance…..”he
served as Pacifica’s national affairs correspondent from 1987 to 1998, covering many
prominent national and international stories, including the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 for
which he won the prestigious George Polk Award. He also covered the 1990 elections in
Nicaragua, and four Supreme Court hearings. He anchored Pacifica’s coverage of the 9/11
Commission hearings, and co-anchored coverage of several presidential debates and
nominating conventions. He was also one of the original co-hosts of Pacifica’s flagship program,
Democracy Now! in 1996.” 

Larry taught for several years in the Political Science Department beginning in 2002 until 2021.
He also taught in the Communications Department at CSU East Bay teaching about media and
politics and he also taught at other Bay Area colleges and universities. The courses in our
department that Larry taught include:

POSC 1202-  Public Policy/California Politics
POSC 1201-   American Political Institutions
POSC 3310-  Political Parties and Campaigning
POSC 3300-  Voting & Public Opinion
POSC 3111-  The American Presidency.
POSC 3115- US Congress
POSC 102 - Public Policy/California Politics
POSC 311 -  The American Presidency

When Larry taught the course in American Presidency in 2008, his students conducted research
on several state specific races and on election night his students reported their findings on
KPFA’s broadcast of the national election which was held at the Freight and Salvage venue in
Berkeley, California. This was the election where Barack Obama was elected President.
While Larry was cordial with his students, also demanded a lot from them whether is was a
written assignment, a substantive research project, or an oral presentation. He was an avid
news junkie as we like to say, he kept up with world events, lived and traveled to France and
other parts of Europe and could discuss international subjects as well as the details of local
politics in Berkeley, where he resided for many decades. He also had regular stints on the air at
KPFA including both a regular Sunday political show, Sunday Salon, which aired for many years,
retiring from the station in 2007, then he came out of retirement to host the Sunday morning
classical music program, Piano. He continued teaching courses with our department until 2021.

Those in the Political Science Department at CSU Hayward now East Bay will fondly remember
Larry’s energy and enthusiasm for engaged politics, which he encouraged our students to
pursue, and his advocacy for media that did not rely on what others may have said or written,
but instead to conduct independent research and investigate to learn the truth.
A memorial service will be held on June 13 at 4:00 p.m. at the St. John’s Presbyterian Church,
2727 College Ave, Berkeley.
For more information about Larry Bensky’s career please see the attached article and post from
his former radio station.

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/05/23/activist-journalist-larry-bensky-87-died-sunday-in- berkeley

https://kpfa.org/featured-episode/larry-bensky-may-1st-1937-may-19th-2024/