Alfred Regnery, vice chairman of ISI’s board of trustees and publisher of the American Spectator, spoke in San Francisco on “The Ascendance of American Conservatism.”

David Forte of the Cleveland Marshall College of Law lectured on the roots of Islam in Seattle.

Deborah Simpson enjoyed the opportunity to participate in question-and-answer sessions at the conclusion of each lecture.

ISI author Bradley Birzer, left, spoke on “Anticommunists and the Conservative Movement” in Rancho Santa Fe.

George Carey, ISI trustee and professor of government at Georgetown University, addressed the topic “Conservatism in America after the Cold War” as part of the “Prospects for Conservatism” seminar.

Seminar participants circled around ISI’s Director of Academic Affairs and Senior Editor Mark Henrie after his lecture in San Francisco.

Back to School for a Day:
Attend an ISI Donor Seminar in 2008

ISI is not just for college students...

This June, ISI hosted three full-day seminars for guests both familiar with and newly introduced to ISI. Attendees gained a personal understanding of ISI’s mission and its activities on college campuses, while also learning from ISI faculty and meeting ISI students and staff. The evening before the seminars, ISI President’s Club members had a unique opportunity to dine with the seminar speakers and ISI staff.

On June 9 at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, just north of San Diego, ninety guests gathered to hear five speakers discuss “Prospects for Conservatism.” George Carey, ISI trustee and author, delivered a luncheon address on “Conservatism in America after the Cold War.” Author George Nash also discussed “The Post- World War II Conservative Intellectual Movement in America.” ISI faculty and staff mingled with the donors during the breaks and closing reception, and attendees also took advantage of the opportunity to browse and purchase titles from ISI Books.

One week later, on June 16 at San Francisco’s historic Fairmont Hotel, eighty guests attended a seminar on “The Roots of American Order.” The day’s five lecturers included Bradley Birzer of Hillsdale College, who discussed “America’s Judeo-Christian Heritage,” and Bruce Thornton of California State University–Fresno, who spoke on “America’s Greek and Roman History.” At the end of the day, the lectures had so inspired the attendees that many stood around talking at the reception for more than two hours after the program had ended.

The following Saturday, on June 23, over fifty guests gathered at the Mayflower Park Hotel in downtown Seattle for a seminar on “Islam and the West.” Two of the four lecturers were foreigners who shared firsthand accounts of the clash between radical Islamists and Western culture. Bart Jan Spruyt of Gouda, Netherlands, discussed “Europe and Islam.” He is a prominent Dutch conservative and a leader of the Edmund Burke Stichting (foundation). The other foreigner was Iranian immigrant Kamran Beigi, currently a research consultant with the Institute of Religion and Public Policy in New York. Speaking on “Iran and Radical Islam,” his discussion included personal recollections from his experience as a media assistant to Rezi Pahlavi, Shah of Iran.

ISI will have another full year of donor events in 2008. For more information, please contact Abigail Clevenger at aclevenger@isi.org or (800) 526-7022.