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Adam Smith on the Death of Nations
May 8, 2025, 4:30 pm

Adam Smith is famous as a champion of commercial growth. But he is arguably even more insightful -- and more relevant to our contemporary moment -- as a theorist of national decline. This lecture will survey his diagnosis of the chief existential threats to national stability, both internal and external.

Ryan&nbsp…

Bruen and the Founding-Era Conception of Rights
May 1, 2025, 4:30 pm

The Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen established a new test for assessing the constitutionality of firearms regulations under the Second Amendment. Bruen's test focuses on the text of the Second Amendment and the history of the right to keep and bear arms.

Can the Universal Human Rights Project Be Saved? - Aquinas Institute Lecture
Apr 30, 2025, 5:00 pm

***RESCHEDULED TO WEDNESDAY APRIL 30TH AT 5 P.M.***

A lecture by Prof. Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard University School of Law) with a response by Prof. Stephen Macedo (Princeton University) at 5 p.m. on April 30th, 2025, in 100 Robertson Hall.

At a moment when the post-World War II international…

Threats to Universities and What We Can Do
Apr 23, 2025, 4:30 pm

The United States is home to an enviable set of leading research institutions and colleges across the country. These institutions have fostered major scientific innovations, contributed to social mobility within the country, and been an attraction for students and faculty from around the world across disciplines. Yet, US higher education faces…

The Institutional Corruption of News Media - Causes, Consequences, and Remedies
Apr 10, 2025, 4:30 pm

In democracies, the press has been described as the fourth branch of government because of the essential role that information plays in mobilizing citizens for political action. However, today, the trust that Americans have in mass media is at the lowest point on record. What accounts for this distrust, what political problems does it pose…

Should Universities Engage in Politics?: A Roundtable Discussion on Academic Freedom and Institutional Neutrality
Apr 2, 2025, 4:30 pm

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Please join us for a wide-ranging conversation about the philosophical and political stakes of academic neutrality, academic activism, and academic freedom - and the ways in which they intersect. Numerous peer institutions…

Woke is Not Dead: The Future of Cancel Culture
Mar 31, 2025, 4:30 pm

In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory, many writers and commentators have signed woke’s death warrant. However, this ignores the fact that young people are substantially more likely than older people to prioritize social justice over free speech. For many, equal outcomes and emotional harm protection for totemic groups – racial, gender, sexual …

Constitutional Private Law
Mar 27, 2025, 4:30 pm

Lawyers have long distinguished private and public law.  The former concerns the rights and duties of private persons and is studied in courses like contracts and torts. The latter concerns the powers and responsibilities of the state. Constitutional law, then, is supposed to be public law. But it turns out that much of…

Class, Status, and Luxury Beliefs
Mar 19, 2025, 4:30 pm

Drawing from both personal experience and academic research, Dr. Henderson will discuss his upbringing in foster care, the challenges of childhood instability, and the role of social class in shaping identity, outlook, and opportunity. In addition, he introduces the concept of "luxury beliefs," which critiques how affluent individuals often…

Lecture 2 - In Covid’s Wake: Science, Liberal Democracy, and Elite Failure
Noble Lies and Democracy Under Covid
Feb 27, 2025, 4:30 pm

Liberal democracies rely on truth-seeking institutions insulated from, or capable of rising above, partisan politics: science, universities, and serious journalism. Each were politicized and degraded under Covid. Based on their forthcoming book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us (Princeton University Press…