PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Political Theory Project at Brown University will host a series of lectures this fall on a range of timely issues including affirmative action, coal divestment, and NSA surveillance. All events are free and open to the public.
“The Political Theory Project offers Brown students a place to engage in civil discussion about pressing issues of our day,” said John Tomasi, professor of political science and director of the Political Theory Project. “We believe that a great university has a responsibility to empower students to break free from inherited political ideaologies of every kind and to begin the daring process of thinking freely, for themselves, about the most pressing political issues of the day. The Political Theory Project is energetically committed to making that dream a reality at Brown.”
This year’s Political Theory Project lecture series begins with the annual Constitution Day Lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. “Affirmative Action: Should Universities Consider Race in Admission?” will be a discussion between journalist Stuart Taylor Jr. and Harvard University law professor Randall Kennedy on whether the use of race in university admission violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Next in the series is a Janus Forum Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 2, titled “Colleges and Coal: Should Brown Divest?” Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, former Duke Energy CEO James Rogers, and Christian Parenti, author of The Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, will discuss the coal-divestment campaign that has gained traction on many college campuses and whether University divestment from energy companies is an effective way to protect the environment.
The Janus Forum seeks to inspire open-minded debate on relevant political, social, and economic issues through lectures, conversations, open seminars, debates, and town hall meetings. Past Janus Lectures have included “One World, Many People: Are There Universal Human Rights,” featuring Larry Cox and John Yoo; “Divided World, United Nations? The Role of the U.S. within the UN,” featuring John Bolton and Richard Holbrooke; and “Teachers’ Unions: The Problem or the Solution?” featuring Rod Paige and Randi Weingarten.
The Political Theory Project will also host a series of three Odyssey Lectures, starting in October. Odyssey Lectures feature a single speaker who will take students on an extended adventure over new and unexpected intellectual terrain. The inaugural lecture in 2009 featured Amity Shlaes whose book The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression offered an alternative view to the costs and consequences of the Great Depression and the New Deal. Other Odyssey speakers have included Dambisa Moyo, Deirdre McCloskey, and Charles Murray.
The first 2013 Odyssey Lecture takes place Friday, Oct. 18, with “Watching You: Is the NSA’s Surveillance Constitutional?” given by Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center.
On Thursday, Oct. 24, Michael Sandal, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, will present an Odyssey Lecture on “What Money Can’t Buy.” Based on Sandal’s New York Times best-selling book by the same name, the lecture will take up the question of what it means to live in a world in which everything is for sale and how market values can be prevented from reaching into spheres of life where they don’t belong.
Finally, on Thursday, Nov. 21, Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal, will present the third Odyssey Lecture titled “Who’s the Fairest of Them All?” to discuss the concept of fairness in policymaking, based on his new book Who’s the Fairest of Them All? The Truth About Opportunity, Taxes and Wealth in America.
More information on the Political Theory Project lectures is online at www.brown.edu/Departments/Political_Theory_Project/.
Tuesday, September 17
4:30 p.m. MacMillan Hall, Room 117
Constitution Day Lecture:
“Affirmative Action: Should Universities Consider Race in Admission?”
Speakers: Journalist Stuart Taylor Jr. and Randall Kennedy, the Michael R. Klein Professor of Law at Harvard University, will discuss whether the use of race in university admission violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Wednesday, October 2
11:30 a.m. Sayles Hall, College Green
Janus Forum Lecture:
“Colleges and Coal: Should Brown Divest?”
Speakers: 350.org founder Bill McKibben, former Duke Energy CEO James Rogers, and Christian Parenti, author of The Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, will discuss the coal-divestment campaign that has gained traction on college campuses nationwide.
Friday, October 18
4 p.m. MacMillan Hall, Room 117
Odyssey Lecture I:
“Watching You: Is the NSA’s Surveillance Constitutional?”
Speaker: Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center
Thursday, October 24
4 p.m. MacMillan Hall, Room 117
Odyssey Lecture II:
“What Money Can’t Buy”
Speaker: Michael Sandal, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, will discuss the question of what it means to live in a world in which everything is for sale.
Thursday, November 21
6 p.m. MacMillan Hall, Room 117
Odyssey Lecture III:
“Who’s the Fairest of Them All?”
Speaker: Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal, will discuss the concept of fairness in policymaking, based on his new book Who’s the Fairest of Them All? The Truth About Opportunity, Taxes and Wealth in America.