UofL’s McConnell Center will be offering four free talks this fall in a series called “Debating America.” Each talk will be debating a different topic presented by speakers including Michael Federici, political science professor and chair at Mercyhurst University, Donald Livingston, professor emeritus of philosophy from Emory University, Denise Spellberg, associate professor of history at the University of Texas, and more.
The talks will each include a certain issue for the speakers to debate about including presidents, war on poverty, and other issues in America.
“I think it’s wonderful for the McConnell Center to throw debates because this way, college students can become more educated when it concerns American history. “ said Michaela Crutcher, Junior Political Science major. “Our generation is losing the sense of where our roots come from and many don’t even know the basic American history.”
The first talk will be held Sept 12th and will be debating “Hamilton v. Jefferson: Who’s the MVP of the American Founding?” Other talks will include “Scale: Is America Too Big?,” “What the War on Poverty Was Supposed to Be: A Look Back at LBJ and the Politics of the Sixties,” and “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders.”
“I would be most interested in seeing “Scale: Is America Too Big?” because I think that is very relevant to the current political polarization.” Said Connor Allen, Senior Political Science Major.
Each talk will be held in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium and will begin at 6 pm.