Lecturer: Robert Koulish, Director, MLAW Programs and Joel J. Feller Research Professor
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Maryland

Immigrants are not as different from citizens in terms of citizenship responsibilities and right as many have been led to believe. And quite frankly, depending on how citizenship is defined, immigrants– even undocumented immigrants– can have much to teach citizens about what it means to be a strong citizen.

Co-hosted by the Department of Government and Politics and the MLAW Programs

Lecturer: Cynthia R. Field, Adjunct Professor, and Isabelle J. Gournay, Associate Professor
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland

This talk will present an avenue into Thomas Jefferson’s ideals and actions through his architecture. Jefferson’s architecture reflects the influence of both Scottish philosophy and French Enlightenment.  This combination was a well-established special relationship in Europe. It manifested itself in his faith in the “associationist” reading of buildings and the symbolic and functional geometric forms of contemporary French designs. The dominating idea of architecture for Jefferson was its provision of didactic models for the new citizens of a democracy.  In this regard, we will examine his plans for the University of Virginia, the Virginia State Capitol (on which he worked with a French architect), and his contributions to the Capitol in Washington, DC.

Hosted by the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Lecturer: Thomas D. Cohen, Professor, Department of Physics, University of Maryland

The philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment stressed the role of reason and in many deeps ways guided the development of modern science. In developing the political system of the United States, its founders were also profoundly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. This talk explores the interactions between American democracy and science from their enlightenment beginnings to the present.

Hosted by the Department of Physics

Lecturer: Holly Brewer, Burke Chair of American History and Associate Professor
Department of History, University of Maryland

The American Revolution led to the birth of public education as we know it because, as many founders argued, unlike aristocracy where a few men born to power ruled, democracy required an educated citizenry who could govern themselves. While educating the public took place on the state level, not the national, and policies were thus characterized by dramatic differences, the promises of the Revolution opened a national debate over what those promises meant. The founders’ ideas about who could or should consent to their own government framed their policies for who should be educated and in what disciplines and to what degree: these promises of equality did not necessarily include everyone.

Co-hosted by the Department of History and the Center for Global Migration Studies

Guest Speaker: Frank LoMonte, Executive Director, Student Press Law Center

The Supreme Court first explicitly recognized in 1943 that students have inalienable constitutional protections that public schools cannot take away, but since that time, student rights have been on an ideological roller-coaster depending on the tenor of the times. Why today’s judicial deference to school disciplinary decisions — and school authorities’ panicky overreaction to social media — puts students at risk.

Co-hosted by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and College Park Scholars