Events

Mar 11

Undergraduate Essay Competition Entries Due!

March 11, 2025 (all day)

Feb 16

Gov. Mitch Daniels on Higher Ed, Public Policy, and a Divided America

February 16, 2025 @ 7:00 pm CST - 8:00 pm CST Memorial Union, UW-Madison

Feb 10

Dueling Visions for Elite Education Reform

Prof. Luke Foster (Hillsdale College)

February 10, 2025 @ 12:00 pm CST - 1:00 pm CST Law School, Room 7200

The American Founding era saw widespread agreement that highly-educated leaders would be necessary for the new republic, but also intense debates about the appropriate setting for elite education (state or Federal), what elites should know, and the proper relationship between elites and people. These debates produced models of elite education that remain decisive in America today. Jefferson’s vision of a skeptical, scientific elite who would be reliably elevated by their local fellow-citizens for their technical ability looks very different from Benjamin Rush’s ideal of a corps steeped in self-discipline whose statecraft would steer the federal government. John Adams’ account of emulation helps explain why Jeffersonian meritocracy has proved so unappealing in practice and why today’s initiatives for higher-education reform would benefit from a Rushian civics.

Feb 4

Christopher Scalia, How Conservatives Can Engage with Culture

February 4, 2025 @ 6:00 pm CST - 7:00 pm CST UW Law School, Room 7200

Jan 29

Panel on Student Protest and Freedom of Expression

January 29, 2025 @ 5:00 pm CST - 7:00 pm CST Pyle Center, Room 325/326

Join expert faculty from UW–Madison and beyond to explore the UW’s new rules on campus speech and their implications for dissent on campus.

Jan 23

Why Is My University So Bad at Free Speech?

Casey Mattox

January 23, 2025 @ 12:00 pm CST - 1:00 pm CST Law School, Room 5246

Join CSLD and the Federalist Society for a free lunch lecture by Casey Mattox, Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at Americans for Prosperity, to discuss the state of free speech on American campuses.

Sep 19

Constitution Day 2024

Professor Derek Webb

September 19, 2024 @ 12:00 pm CST - 1:00 pm CST University of Wisconsin Law School, Room 7200 (975 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI)

"The Spirit of Amity: The Constitution's Forgotten Cover Letter and the Original Meaning of Civility." Drawing on his forthcoming book about George Washington’s letter transmitting the U.S. Constitution to Congress, Professor Derek Webb will discuss what Washington meant by "the spirit of amity"--a disposition Washington asserted was indispensable to the creation of the Constitution. Professor Webb will explore what that concept meant to the founding generation; how it played out at a few key moments during the debates over the creation and ratification of the Constitution; and how it differs in some ways from contemporary understandings of civility.