Constitution Day, a commemoration of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, is observed annually at Oglethorpe University with a Constitution Day Lecture featuring an esteemed guest speaker.
This year’s lecture will occur on Thursday, September 16 at 4 p.m. EDT and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the public. Visit OU Connect for details and Zoom information.
Guest speaker Dr. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch is a Laura and Pete Walker Professor in the Department of Leadership and American Studies at Christopher Newport University (CNU). She also serves as Director of American Studies and Co-Director of the Center for American Studies. An alumna of Emory University and Michigan State University, she is the author of numerous articles and co-author of Title IX: The Transformation of Sex Discrimination in Education (Routledge, 2018).
As a former adjunct professor at Oglethorpe, Dr. Busch will be speaking on “The Separation of Powers or the Normalization of Tyranny.”
Responses will be offered by Rhodes College Professor of Philosophy Dr. Dan Cullen and Trinity University Professor of Political Science Dr. David Crockett.
Dr. Cullen is Rhodes College’s Director of the Project for the Study of Liberal Democracy and Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies of the Jack Miller Center. With his B.A. from McGill University (Montreal) and Ph.D. from Boston College, Cullen is the author of Freedom in Rousseau’s Political Philosophy (Northern Illinois University Press, 1993) and editor of Liberal Democracy and Liberal Education (Lexington Books, 2016).
Dr. Crockett received his B.A. from Georgetown University, his master’s in public affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas. He is the author of The Opposition Presidency: Leadership and the Constraints of History (TAMU Press, 2002) and Running Against the Grain: How Opposition Presidents Win the White House (TAMU Press, 2008).
Constitution Day is a required celebration for most educational institutions in America, and the event’s history began as “I am an American Day” in May of 1939. This holiday was founded by William Randolph Hearst, son of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, OU’s Hearst Hall‘s namesake.
Organized by Professor of Politics Dr. Joe Knippenberg, Oglethorpe’s annual Constitution Day Lectures are sponsored by the Jack Miller Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit in Pennsylvania that partners with universities to transform student access to education in American political thought and history and foster informed civic engagement.
In recent years, OU speakers have included Susan McWilliams Barndt (Pomona College), James Stoner (Louisiana State), Micah Watson (Calvin College), and Jonathan Marks (Ursinus College). Find out more about Constitution Day programming across the country.