Thursday, April 18
5:30 - 7 pm MT
Chancellor’s Hall/Auditorium, CASE Building, 4th Floor | 1725 Euclid Ave Boulder, CO
Livestream and In-person
Co-sponsored by the Heterodoxy Academy and Colorado Mesa University (CMU)
Moderated by: Matthew Burgess, Benson Center faculty fellow

In-Person Registration

About the Event

Konstantin Kisin will participate in a panel discussion on the topic: What is the role of patriotism in solving society's big problems? Panelists include Konstantin Kisin and  (President of the American Conservation Coalition), and will be moderated by Benson Center Faculty Fellow .

This event is generously co-sponsored with the and Colorado Mesa University (CMU). 

About the Speaker

Konstantin Kisin is a writer, social commentator, co-host of and comedian.

He is a regular on British and American TV and radio shows including Question Time, Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, Daily Politics, LBC Cross Question, Tucker Carlson, the Megyn Kelly Show and many others.

Konstantin has written for publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator, Tablet Magazine, Quillette, Standpoint as well as his first book,

Parking Information

Parking information: Short term paid parking is available on campus in lots 205, 203, or 324. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Tuesday, April 16
5:15 - 7pm
Kittredge Central Conference Room N114 C&D (2480 Kittredge Loop Rd. Boulder, CO 80309)
Livestream and In-person
Presented by: Paul Diduch and Alex Priou, Benson Center faculty fellows

Ronald Beiner

Ronald Beiner is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His books include Political Judgment (1983), What’s the Matter with Liberalism? (1992), Philosophy in a Time of Lost Spirit (1997), Liberalism, Nationalism, Citizenship (2003), Civil Religion: A Dialogue in the History of Political Philosophy (2011), Political Philosophy: What It Is and Why It Matters (2014), and most recently, Dangerous Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right (2018). He is also the editor of Hannah Arendt’s Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy (1982), which has been published in a large number of foreign-language editions. 

Shilo Brooks

Shilo Brooks is Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and Lecturer in the Department of Politics. 

He is author of Nietzsche’s Culture War, in addition to scholarly and journalistic articles on a variety of topics in politics and the humanities. His teaching and research interests lie in the history of political philosophy, politics and literature, and statesmanship.  

He was previously Associate Faculty Director of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization and Faculty Director of the Engineering Leadership Program at the University of Colorado. Brooks has also held appointments as Visiting Professor of Government at Bowdoin College, Fellow in the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia, and Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton. He received his PhD in political science from Boston College and his BA in liberal arts from the Great Books Program at St. John’s College, Annapolis. 

Steven Pittz

Steven Pittz is the Executive Director of the Center for the  Study of Government and the Individual. He is also currently the Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs  (UCCS) and Chair of the Political Science Department. He is a graduate  of the UCCS Political Science Dept. (BA 2004) and is excited to be back  at his alma mater, after stints in graduate school at the University of  Texas (Ph.D 2014) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University in  Atlanta.  Steven's research focuses primarily on political liberalism  and current challenges to the liberal order. He approaches these topics  primarily through explorations of the status of individualism and  spiritual fulfillment in modern liberal societies.  Steven also writes  on other topics in both political theory and international politics and  economics.  His first book, Recovering the Liberal Spirit: Nietzsche,  Individuality and Spiritual Freedom, was published by SUNY Press in  2020.  A second, with Joseph Postell, American Citizenship and  Constitutionalism in Principle and Practice, was published by Oklahoma  Press in 2022.  In addition, he has recently written several pieces on  atomism (individualism), conspiracism in liberal democratic societies,  and the ethics of creative destruction in entrepreneurship.   

Michael W. Grenke

Michael W. Grenke is a member of the senior faculty at St. John’s College.  He has taught at both the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses.  He has also taught at the University of New Hampshire, Boston College, and Michigan State University.  He has published two translations of Nietzsche, On the Future of Our Educational Institutions and Prefaces to Unwritten Works.  Another translation of Nietzsche and a translation of Euclid’s Optics are forthcoming soon.  He has published articles on Nietzsche and on Heidegger in various academic journals.  He recently wrote the introduction for Lise van Boxel’s posthumously published book, Warspeak:  Nietzsche’s Victory Over Nihilism. 

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Tuesday, April 2
5:30 - 7pm MT
Wolf Law Room 204
Livestream and In-person
Moderated by: Ben Teitelbaum

About the Event

Conversion is an experience but also a metaphor.  In Christian and post-Christian societies it affects the way we think about the self and how we might want to change; it also affects how we imagine society changing, in particular through the notion of revolution.  But is sudden, radical change really possible in human life?  And even if it is, should we desire it? 

About the Speaker

Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and other domestic and foreign publications.  His forthcoming book, Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know, will be published by Farrar Straus Giroux in the fall. For more information on Mark Lilla visit . 

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, 415, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Tuesday, March 12
5 - 6:15 pm MT
Wolf Law Wittemyer Courtroom | 2450 Kittredge Loop Dr. Boulder, CO
Livestream and in-person
Moderated by Todd Zywicki, VSCTP fall 2023

About the Event

Todd Zywicki (VSCTP, fall 2023) is back for a conversation with Eugene Volokh. Come hear them discuss how civil rights movements and minority groups more generally benefit from free speech.

This event is co-sponsored by . Voices of Liberty supports campus events that engage undergraduate students in discussion about free speech and civil rights. Voices for Liberty speakers and campus partners ask students to consider historic and contemporary ways in which free speech has, or can, drive civil and social progress in critical areas like censorship, marginalization, and racial conflict. They also run occasional public symposia and webinars on emerging research in this area.

About the Speaker

Eugene Volokh teaches First Amendment law, a First Amendment amicus brief clinic, an intensive editing workshop, and business torts at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, tort law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy. Starting May 2024, he will be a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (where he is currently a Visiting Fellow). Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (7th ed. 2020), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 law review articles. He is a member of The American Law Institute, a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel, and the founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His work has been cited by opinions in ten Supreme Court cases and over 300 court opinions in total, as well as over 5000 academic articles. He has also filed briefs (mostly amicus briefs) in over 150 cases, and argued 40 appellate cases in state and federal courts throughout the country.

Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Volokh worked for 12 years as a computer programmer. He graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in math-computer science, and has written many articles on computer software. Volokh was born in the USSR; his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was seven years old.

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, 415, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Wednesday, February 28
5:30 - 7 pm MT (doors open at 5 pm)
Location: Wolf Law Wittemyer Courtroom | 2450 Kittredge Loop Dr. Boulder, CO
Livestream and In-person
Moderated by: Brandon Warmke, VSCTP spring 2024

This event has a clear bag policy that will be enforced. If you plan to bring a bag, it must be clear plastic, vinyl or PVC, and no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches. Please do not bring backpacks, or other bags.

About the Event

With all eyes on Israel as it battles Hamas in the aftermath of the horrific October 7th massacres on its southern border, political theorist and Bible scholar Dr. Yoram Hazony will offer a defense of Israeli nationalism, discussing its historical origins and philosophical underpinnings and what it can contribute to a better political order. 

About the Speaker

Yoram Hazony is an Israeli philosopher, political theorist and author.

He serves as President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and as Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a public affairs institute based in Washington that hosts the National Conservatism Conference.

His book The Virtue of Nationalism won the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Conservative Book of the Year award in 2019 and was an Amazon bestseller in both International Diplomacy and Nationalism. His latest book Conservatism: A Rediscovery has invigorated conservative political thought globally. His previous books include The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, which won the second place PROSE award for best book in the category of Theology and Religion by the Association of American Publishers; The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel’s Soul; and God and Politics in Esther.

His work has appeared in The Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, Fox News, CNN, NPR, Time Magazine, The New Republic, National Review, Commentary, First Things, and American Affairs, among others.

He holds a B.A. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. at Rutgers University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Yael Hazony, and their children.

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, 415, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275. On February 28, CU basketball plays at the Coors Events Center at 6 pm; as a result, parking will be extremely limited on campus. Please arrive early if you plan to park on campus.

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Tuesday, January 23
5:30 - 7pm
Kittredge Central Conference Room N114 D (2480 Kittredge Loop Rd. Boulder, CO 80309)
Livestream and In-person
Moderated by: Daniel Jacobson

About the event

I wish to understand what went wrong with the recent moral panic we witnessed: Particularly, what is the role, if any, deeper moral dynamics play in generating what I call Puritan excesses. My core thesis is that those excesses are not entirely a fluke, not entirely exogenous, but somewhat endogenous, to more common moral dynamics. To make it concrete, I focus on moralizing humor as a case study. There we have plenty of data plus tantalizing examples. Finally, why is the excessive moral encroachment into the world of levity a good example for the more general problem of Puritan excesses? I conclude my talk by venturing an answer that goes beyond simply listing the various benefits humor bestows on maintaining social relations, right to the heart of human nature.

About the speaker

Born in Switzerland, raised in Germany, trained in Texas, Stan Husi has been teaching for over a decade at the nation’s top terminal MA program at the university of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. With humor and wit, he strives to bring greater view-point diversity, sense of community, and an appreciation of philosophical issues in a wider socio-political context to the next crop of PhD students in the profession. He teaches courses in moral and political philosophy, PPE, the ethics of transformative technologies such as AI, philosophy of history and stories, and moral psychology. He is working on a book project launched at the Benson Center last year, with a talk titled Curb your moral enthusiasm.

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Wednesday, January 17
5:30 - 7 pm
Chancellor’s Hall/Auditorium, CASE Building, 4th Floor | 1725 Euclid Ave Boulder, CO

About the event

Why does Chris Rufo say that we need to lay siege to our institutions? Because of what has happened to our institutions since the 1960s. The long march through our institutions, begun a half-century ago, has now proved largely successful. Over the past three years, Rufo looked at the federal bureaucracy, the universities, K-12 schools, and big corporations and what he's found is that the revolutionary ideas of the ’60s have been repackaged, repurposed, and injected into American life at the institutional level. Even those of us who are temperamentally predisposed to defense must recognize that offense—laying siege to the institutions—is what is now demanded.

About the speaker

Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute. He is also a contributing editor of City Journal, where his writing explores a range of issues, including critical race theory, gender ideology, homelessness, addiction, crime, and the decline of American cities. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, America’s Cultural Revolution, available wherever books are sold.

Rufo is a leader in the fight against critical race theory in American institutions. His research and activism inspired a presidential order and legislation in more than twenty states, where he has worked closely with lawmakers to craft successful public policy. As a filmmaker, Rufo has directed four documentaries for PBS, Netflix, and international television, including America Lost, which tells the story of three “forgotten American cities.” 

Rufo holds a BSFS from Georgetown and an ALM from Harvard. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons.

This event will be moderated by Brandon Warmke, VSCTP spring 2024. 

Parking Information

Short term, paid parking is available on campus in lots 205, 203, or 324. Visit the CU campus map for other parking options, or find more info about short-term parking at CU. Contact Parking Services at 303-735-PARK (7275) with questions.

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Event has been canceled

Moderated by: Eric Alston, Benson Center faculty fellow

About the Event

Recent commentators have questioned whether a capitalist economic system is fundamentally inconsistent with a democratic political system. What history shows is over the last two centuries is that the presence of elections and a growing capitalist economy are not closely related to one another.  On the other hand, advanced democracies with broad, secure political and civil rights are closely associated with vibrant capitalist economies where individuals are free to pursue what they see to be their most valuable uses.  The talk will explain how and why advanced democratic capitalisms first appeared in the late 19th century, and the central role of impersonal rules -- rules that apply equally to all citizens -- played in their transformation. 

About the Speaker

John Wallis is Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is economic historian and institutional economist whose research focuses on the dynamic interaction of political and economic institutions over time. An American economic historian, he collected large data sets on government finances and on state constitutions. His early research focused on the New Deal, and then his focus shifted to research on the early 19th century, the collapse of state government finances in the 1840s, and the constitutional changes in states that followed. Over the last two decades his research has expanded to cover a longer period, wider geography, and more general questions of how societies use institutions of economics and politics to solve the problem of controlling violence and, in some situations, sustaining economic growth. He published Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History with Douglass North and Barry Weingast, Cambridge University Press, 2009 and In the Shadow of Violence: Politics, Economics, and the Problem of Development, edited with Douglass North, Steven Webb, and Barry Weingast, CUP, 2013. He edited Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development, with Naomi Lamoreaux.  Chicago: NBER/University of Chicago Press, 2017. In the 2022/23 academic year he was the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University, and from 2018 to 2023 he was the Mancur Olson Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. He is currently working on a new book examining the emergence of impersonal rules: Leviathan Denied: Rules, Organizations, and Governments. 

Parking Information

Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.

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Tuesday, April 9
6:30 - 8 pm MT
Chancellor’s Hall & Auditorium (4th floor) | CASE Building, 1725 Euclid Ave. Boulder, CO
Livestream and In-person

About The Event

The Steamboat Institute, in partnership with the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization, is proud to present a compelling debate on the following resolution: Be it resolved, AI poses a threat to our democracy. The reception is for everyone.

About The Speakers

Arguing the affirmative is Katie Pavlich, Editor, Townhall.com; Fox News Contributor, and Best-Selling Author. Arguing the negative is Brent Orrell, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute. Moderator is Hadley Heath Manning Vice President for Policy at the Independent Women’s Forum and Tony Blankley Fellow, The Steamboat Institute.

Parking Information

Short term, paid parking is available on campus in lots 205, 203, or 324. Visit the CU campus map for other parking options, or find more info about short-term parking at CU. Contact Parking Services at 303-735-PARK (7275) with questions.

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Friday, April 12
5 - 6 pm MT
UMC Center Ballroom | 1669 Euclid Ave, Boulder, CO
Livestream and In-person
This event is part of the Conference on World Affairs 2024
[button url="" color="gold" size="regular" style="regular"]Livestream available here

About The Event

A live podcast discussion of the controversial issues Americans don’t know how to talk about, and why we don’t know how to talk about them.

The Politically Correcting podcast hosts Jose Peo and Lavelle Lewis will join CU Boulder’s Free Mind podcast host Matt Burgess in a unique platform highlighting the importance of civil discourse.

A Democrat, a Republican, and a Canadian walk into a bar… we’ll let you guess who is who. 

No topic will be off limits.

Free and open to the public, audience engagement is encouraged.

About The Speakers

Jose Peo and Lavelle Lewis are the hosts of the Politically Correcting podcast. Matt Burgess is the host of CU Boulder's Free Mind podcast.

Parking Information

Short term, paid parking is available on campus in lots 205, 203, or 324. Visit the CU campus map for other parking options, or find more info about short-term parking at CU. Contact Parking Services at 303-735-PARK (7275) with questions.

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