The political science department will present its annual Constitution Day Lecture on Tuesday, September 17, 5 to 6:30 p.m., in Dundon-Berchtold room 004. Professor Nick Buccola of the Linfield College political science department will give a talk about Frederick Douglass’s constitutional theory. Frederick Douglass, of course, is the 19th century American statesman and political thinker who escaped slavery to become a key abolitionist and proponent of racial justice. Buccola is the author of The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass and of a new book, The Fire is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate Over Race in America. He is also the director of the Frederick Douglass Forum on Law, Rights, and Justice at Linfield.
Constitution Day Lecture, Sept. 17: Nick Buccola
For more information contact Bill Curtis, political science, at curtisw@up.edu.
The political science department now offers a minor in Constitutional Studies, according to department chair Bill Curtis. The Constitutional Studies minor is an interdisciplinary liberal arts course of study that seeks to introduce students to U.S. constitutional law and its historical, political, and philosophical roots. It provides students who are considering going to law school with a foundational experience in thinking about, writing about, and discussing the law. It further provides something that all University of Portland students should be interested in: knowledge of the U.S. government’s foundational document that will enable them to become more effective and engaged democratic citizens.
Zachary Price of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, will present “Constitutional Law in a Polarized Era” on Wednesday, October 3, at 5 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. His lecture is free and open to all.
William Curtis and Gary Malecha, political science, will present the 2018 Constitution Day Lecture, “Supreme Court Nominations in a New Political Order,” on Monday, September 17, at 7 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. The lecture is free and open to all.
The 2017 Constitution Day presentation will take place on Tuesday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. Bill Curtis, political science, will be speaking about significant constitutional cases that are up for consideration by the Supreme Court. The title will be “Travel Bans, Cell Phone Searches, and Wedding Cakes: The Supreme Court’s Upcoming Cases.” All are welcome and light refreshments will be served. For more information contact political science at x7274 or 
Philosopher David Schmidtz will deliver “Markets in Education,” as the 2017 Mazzocco Lecture in Distributive Justice, on Thursday, February 23, at 5 p.m., in Shiley Hall 301. Schmidtz is Kendrick Professor of Philosophy and Eller Chair of Service-Dominant Logic at the University of Arizona, ranked as the top graduate program in the world in political philosophy. He is editor of Social Philosophy & Policy and is the Freedom Center’s founding director. He is the author of dozens of articles and several books, including: Rational Choice and Moral Agency, The Elements of Justice, and Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, and What Really Works (with Elizabeth Willott).