Past Events

A Q&A with ChristyColeman,executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and former president and chief operating officer of the American Civil War...

University of Virginia Law and Education Professor Kimberly Robinson spoke about how the U.S. K-12 education system suffers from tremendous inequalities, with gaps in opportunity and outcome affecting millions of students.  These inequities have lifelong...

Dr. Blee, a professor of sociology, spoke on women’s roles in far right political movements in the US beginning with the KKK in the 1920s and continuing until today with women’s participation in the insurrection at the Capitol and the QAnon movement. Her research...

On Tuesday December 1, 2020, Anne Applebaum talked about the Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism via...

Walter Shaub, the former Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics,  a senior adviser with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and an alumni from JMU-- Shaub was a history major-- and Gabe Lezra, an attorney and CREW policy counsel,...

This presentation was given by presidential historian and UCLA Professor Emeritus Robert Dallek and George Washington University professor Matt Dallek. In recent decades, critics on both left and right have deplored the growth of executive power and the “imperial...

Dr. Leslie Grady, an environmental engineer and Professor Emeritus from Clemson University, will discuss what many have called the most difficult challenge ever faced by humankind, one that puts democracy itself in danger.  An open discussion with audience members...

The victory of far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential elections has raised fears about democracy in Latin America’s largest country. JMU political science professor Kristin Wylie will discuss Brazil’s elections, including debates about race,...

On June 23, 2016, a narrow majority of voters in the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union (EU). A year and a half later, the United Kingdom and the EU are negotiating the terms of "Brexit," and debate about its stakes and outcomes continues to rage....

The termination of the Dream Act (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants – and the national debate it has generated – presents another chapter in the history of exploitative immigrant policies in the United States. The latest policies should be...

Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling will talk about his experiences in politics and government and the surging partisanship and ideological rigidity that make it difficult for government to function as intended.  Lieutenant Governor Bolling will also...

Strongmen now rule over some of the most populous countries on earth, such as Turkey, Russia, and China. Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on fascism and a frequent media commentator, looks at the appeal of these authoritarian rulers, and argues that Donald Trump fits...

The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has been the law of the land for over 7 years, its successes and failures paraded across the media daily.  The ACA has expanded health coverage to 20 million Americans, many of them low-income and sick, but it has also...

The U.S. locks up more of its citizens than any other country, and politicians across the spectrum continue to insist on 'tough-on-crime' policies.   Dr. Marc M. Howard, Professor of Government and Law at Georgetown, and Martin Tankleff, a New York State criminal...

North Korea has long been one of the most isolated and little-understood countries on earth.  In recent months, we have seen an increasingly assertive Kim Jong Un testing long-range ballistic missiles, and a new U.S. administration threatening “fire and fury” in...

Dr. E. Franklin Dukes, a member of the Charlottesville Commission that voted on the future of the city's Confederate monuments, and Dr. David Ehrenpreis, head of JMU's Institute of Visual Studies, will discuss debates surrounding the decision to remove...

Racist attitudes and structures persist in America today despite the legacy of the civil rights movement and profound demographic shifts.  In the light of recent racial tensions, how can Americans continue to promote racial cooperation and equality?  Drs. Steven...

The study of history reveals that no political system is permanent. What factors undermine democracy? Drawing on his research on ancient and modern political philosophy, Scott J. Hammond, Professor Political Science at JMU, will address these concerns as they...

Since coming to power in Russia in 2000, Vladimir Putin has repressed opposition to his rule, silenced those challenging his authority, gained control over Russian media, and disseminated propaganda to assure his popularity. He has, in other words, used his power...

During the recent presidential election and in the weeks since, prominent historians and political commentators have repeatedly compared the situation in the United States to interwar Germany and the Nazi rise to power, identifying a collapse of democratic norms...