A conference dedicated to academic conversation and collaboration
Are you a faculty member or graduate student looking for a place that honors academic debate and exchange in the pursuit and apprehension of truth?
Join us for ISI’s American Politics and Government Summit: a conference dedicated to bringing together scholars to participate in dialogue focused on emerging research—rooted in timeless principles—in the fields of politics, philosophy, and economics.
This conference will be held February 23-24, 2023, at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. Unlike the echo chambers that suppress free inquiry and only permit the ideas of a coterie of experts, Fort Lauderdale will be the setting that inspires academic excellence.
At a time when far too many in academia are scared into silence through the instruments of political correctness and utopian ideology, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute will continue to provide a home for everyone in higher education where honest, intellectual discourse can thrive.
This will be a conference like no other. If you’re a faculty member or graduate student who is committed to the principles of ordered liberty, you owe it to yourself to attend.
Please contact Sasha von Spakovsky, svonspakovsky@isi.org, to reserve a room at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina.
ISI’s American Politics and Government Faculty Summit Schedule
*subject to change
Wednesday, February 22
6:00 p.m. Evening Reception
Thursday, February 23
8:30 am Opening Remarks
9:00-10:30 Paper Presentations
- Session 1: Nicholas Higgins, North Greeneville University
- Religious Hermeneutics and Constitutional Interpretation
- Session 1: Jason Jewell, Faulkner University
- The Christian Imperative for Political Decentralization
- Session 2: Elizabeth Eastman, Independent Scholar
- America’s Dialogue: Three Debates that Inform the Original Understanding of America
- Session 2: Daniel Gullotta, Ashland University
- Whatever Happened to the Age of Jackson?
- Session 2: Jacob Wolf, Regent University
- Walt Whitman’s Boundless Individuality as a Moral Foundation for American Democracy
11:00-12:30 Panels
- Pursuing the Common Good: Self Governance vs. Social Governance, The Heritage Foundation
- Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Catholic University of America
- Paul Ray, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, THF
- James Lindsay, New Discourses
- Chair: Andrew Olivastro, Vice President, Outreach, THF
- Conserving Conservatism, Abandoning America
- Clifford Humphrey, Troy University and Edmund Burke Foundation
- Casey Wheatland, Texas State University
- Cole Simmons, Montana Classical College
- Chair: Ben Crenshaw, Hillsdale College
12:45-2:15 pm Lunch
2:30-4:00 Panels
- Gender Injustice: Redefining What It Means to Be Human, The Heritage Foundation
- Jay Richards, DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family, THF
- Rachel Lu, Law & Liberty
- Spencer Klaven, Claremont Institute
- Chair: Brenda Hafera, Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies, THF
- Book Panel: The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding by Kody Cooper and Justin Dyer
- Kody Cooper, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- Theresa Macart, Holy Cross College
- Bolek Kabala, Tarleton State University
- Nicholas Drummond, Black Hills State University
4:30-6:00 Paper Presentations
- Session 1: Steven Hayward, University of California, Berkeley and Linda Denno, University of Arizona
- The Unspoken Foundation of the “Social Justice” Project is Envy: An Agenda for Research and Reflection
- Session 1: Joshua Vandiver, Ball State University
- Do Leftwing Extremists Think Strategically?
- Session 2: Joshua Herring, Faulkner University
- Towards A Biblical Theology of ‘Nation’ in the Old and New Testaments
- Session 2: John Lawrence Hill, Indiana University, Robert H. McKinney School of Law
- Ten Years That Changed the Constitution Forever
- Session 2: William Byrne, St. John’s University
- Liberal or Burkean Justice in the American Founding?
6:30-8:30 Dinner Keynote: The New Right and the American Political Tradition by Charles Kesler, Claremont Institute
Friday, February 24
9:00-10:30 am Panels
- Book Panel: Conservatism in a Divided America: The Right and Identity Politics by George Hawley
- George Hawley, University of Alabama
- Jose Pedro Zuquete, University of Lisbon
- David Azerrad, Hillsdale College
- Kody Cooper, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- Chair: Nicholas Drummond, Black Hills State University
- Christian Nationalism and the American Regime, The Edmund Burke Foundation
- David Innes, The Kings College
- Ben Crenshaw, Hillsdale College
- Stephen Wolfe, author ofThe Case for Christian Nationalism
- Daniel Strand, Air Force War College
- Chair: Clifford Humphrey, Troy University and Edmund Burke Foundation
11:00-12:30 Sessions and Panels
- Is Locke’s Liberalism the Cause of Our Decline?, The Claremont Institute
- David Azerrad, Hillsdale College
- Yoram Hazony, Edmund Burke Foundation
- Thomas G. West, Hillsdale College
- Chair: Ronald J. Pestritto, Hillsdale College
- How Liberal Was the American Founding?, The Acton Institute
- Sam Goldman, George Washington University
- Dylan Pahman, Acton Institute
12:45-2:15 pm Lunch
2:30-4:00 Panels
- What the Right Can Learn from the Left, The Claremont Institute
- Michael Anton, Hillsdale College
- Glenn Ellmers, Claremont Institute
- Kevin Slack, Hillsdale College
- Chair: Ryan Williams, Claremont Institute
- Among the Deathworks: Reflections on Philip Rieff, The Ciceronian Society
- Christopher Anadale, Mount St. Mary’s University
- Michael Harding, Montgomery College
- Chair: William Batchelder, Waynesburg University
4:30-6:00 Paper Presentations
- Session 1: Gary W. Houchens, Western Kentucky University
- Learning for Eternity: A 94-Year-Old Papal Encyclical Offers a Blueprint for Modern American Education Policy
- Session 1: Michael N. Jacobs, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
- Two Kingdoms Conservatism: VanDrunen, Hazony, and the Role of the State
- Session 1: Casey Puerzer, Boston College
- Hurricane Katrina, Federalism, and Justice
- Session 2: Joseph Prud’homme, Washington College
- Liberal Promises and Hobbesian Realities: The Post-War Establishment Clause, the Political State of Nature, and a Defense of Classical Liberalism
- Session 2: William Jason Wallace, Samford University
- Between Madison and Marcuse: Human Nature, American Order, and the Politics of Prudence
6:30-8:30 Dinner Keynote: The Constitution and Civic Virtue by Robert P. George and Closing Remarks
