Our events bring thought-provoking conversations about democracy to the Penn State community and beyond. We also partner with organizations across Penn State and throughout the State College community to co-sponsor programming. All events are free and open to anyone.
Civil Liberties and Democracy
Monday, April 28
Reception 6:00 p.m.; Lecture: 7:00 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County: 780 Waupelani Drive Extension, State College, PA 16801
Restrictions on the media, universities, and law firms, along with the deportation of international college students, all raise concerns about the future of our civil liberties.
Michael Berkman, McCourtney Institute for Democracy director and professor of political science, will discuss the tension inherent in our democracy between government power and individual liberties, focusing on the importance of the Bill of Rights from the founding through today. This lecture is sponsored by the Centre County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
A reception will be held light refreshments will be held from 6:00-7:00 p.m. and the lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Ben Rhodes: America’s Changing Role in a Changed World
Thursday, May 22
Reception 6:00 p.m.; Lecture: 7:00 p.m.
USC Capital Campus, Washington, D.C.
Register to Attend
On behalf of our podcast network, The Democracy Group, we invite you to join us for our first ever live podcast recording in Washington D.C. Foreign policy expert and fellow podcaster Ben Rhodes will be in conversation with network members Kamy Akhavan of Let’s Find Common Ground, Michael Baranowski of The Politics Guys, and Stephanie Gerber Wilson of Freedom Over Fascism about America’s place on the world stage and how the health of American democracy impacts other democracies around the world.
We’ll also discuss how podcasting can shape messaging and narrative in a fractured media environment. A reception with food and drink will be held at 6:00 p.m., followed by the live recording at 7:00 p.m.
Ben Rhodes is a writer, political commentator, and national security analyst. From 2009–2017, Ben served as a speechwriter and deputy national security advisor to President Obama. He is the author of The New York Times bestsellers After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made, and The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House. He is currently co-host of Pod Save the World. His work has also been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs.