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.
Bill Curtis
New Minor in Constitutional Studies
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 Lecture, “Constitutional Law in a Polarized Era,” Oct. 3
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.
Before entering academics, Price served for three years as an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. that provides authoritative legal advice to the President, Attorney General, and executive branch agencies. He has also worked as a litigator in private practice and clerked at all three levels of the federal judiciary, for Judge Catherine C. Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 2003 and from Stanford University with honors and distinction in 1998.
For more information contact Bill Curtis, political science, at curtisw@up.edu.
Constitution Day Presentation, Sept. 17
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.
For more information contact political science at x7274 or mackinno@up.edu.
Constitution Day Lecture with Bill Curtis, Sept. 19
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 polisci@up.edu.
Annual Mazzocco Lecture in Distributive Justice, Feb. 23: David Schmidtz
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).
The Mazzocoo Lecture is an annual lecture made possible by a gift to the University to honor the memory William James Mazzocco ’37, and is presented by the political science department. This year, additional funding has been provided by the John Templeton Foundation though a grant from the Institute of Humane Studies.
For more information contact Bill Curtis, political science, at curtisw@up.edu.
Constitution Day Lecture
William Curtis, political science, will present “The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Justice Clarence Thomas,” a Constitution Day presentation, on Tuesday, September 17, at 7 p.m., in St. Mary’s Student Center. Curtis will discuss Justice Clarence Thomas’s judicial philosophy, approach to interpreting the Constitution, and several of his noteworthy opinions. For more information contact Gary Malecha, political science, at 7452 or malecha@up.edu.