Join us on October 1st in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium from 5:30-7:00 pm for a conversation between Richard Ebeling and Michael Meeropol about threats to liberal democracy, both past and present. The event is co-sponsored by the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Program and Carolina Alumni.

Pizza in the lobby afterward!

Students who attend in-person can get CLE credit. No tickets are necessary. Seating is first-come-first serve, but we will reserve tickets for guests coming from outside Chapel Hill. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu for reserved seats.

Richard M. Ebeling is professor of economics at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He is recognized as one of the leading members of the Austrian School of Economics and is the author of numerous books, including “For a New Liberalism” (American Institute for Economic Research, 2019) and “Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian Tradition” (Routledge, 2010). Professor Ebeling has also served as president of the Foundation for Economic Education (2003-2008) and the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics (2020). 

Michael Meeropol is professor emeritus of economics at Western New England University, Springfield Massachusetts, where he also served as department chair. He is the son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the only American couple ever executed by the United States for conspiracy to commit espionage. His publications include “Surrender: How the Clinton Administration Completed the Reagan Revolution” (University of Michigan Press, 2017) and “We Are Your Sons, the Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Boston” (Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1975), co-authored with Robert Meeropol. 

Graeme B. Roberston (moderator) is professor of political science and director of the UNC Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies. His research and teaching focus on authoritarianism, and he is especially interested in how authoritarians manage and seek to influence both supporters and opposition. Roberston currently serves as associate editor of comparative politics for the American Journal of Political Science. Along with Samuel A. Greene, he is the author of Putin v. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia (Yale University, 2019).

Date: October 1, 2024

Times: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Audience: Public Event

Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium

On behalf of the School of Civic Life and Leadership, join us on 9/27 at Wilson Library for our inaugural public event: a day-long symposium on the topic: “Is Democracy on the Ballot this November?” Beginning with a welcome from Chancellor Lee H. Roberts, we will convene a series of panels featuring nationally distinguished public intellectuals from across the political spectrum and representing a diverse range of approaches and views in relation to this fraught, deeply consequential question. Because we believe the Carolina community has much to contribute on this topic and much to gain by discussing it thoughtfully together, there will be ample time throughout the day for questions and conversation. Please drop in and out as your schedule allows and please consider publicizing the event to your colleagues and to students, who can receive CLE credit for each panel they attend. We look forward to welcoming you! 9:45-10:00 a.m. Chancellor Lee H. Roberts, Welcome David Decosimo, Introduction 10:00-11:30 a.m. Leah Litman, Professor of Law, University of Michigan John McGinnis, Professor in Constitutional Law, Northwestern University 1:00-2:30 p.m. Jeff Sharlet, Professor, Dartmouth University Sarah Rogers, First Amendment attorney Aaron Sibarium, Journalist, Washington Free Beacon 3:00-4:15 p.m. Shadi Hamid, Columnist, The Washington Post 4:30-5:45 p.m. All Speaker Panel

Date: September 27, 2024

Times: 09:45 am – 05:45 pm

Audience: Public Event

Venue: Pleasants Family Assembly Room in Wilson Library

On September 18th from 5:30pm-7:00pm in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium, the Abbey Speaker Series returns with “Are Election Security and Voter Access Compatible?” Six weeks before Americans head to the polls to choose their president, UNC political science professor Jason Roberts will moderate a conversation between Derek Bowens (Durham County Board of Elections), John Fortier (American Enterprise Institute), and Sophia Lakin (American Civil Liberties Union).

The event is co-sponsored by Carolina Alumni.

Students who attend in-person can get CLE credit. No tickets are necessary. Seating is first-come-first serve, but we will reserve tickets for guests who are coming from outside Chapel Hill and who are not currently working for or attending the university. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu for reserved seats.

Pizza in the lobby afterward!

Derek Bowens joined the Durham County Board of Elections in June of 2017 as the Director of Elections. Previously, Bowens was the Director of Elections in New Hanover County, North Carolina and has served as an election administrator since 2012. He has been nationally recognized by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the National Association of Counties (NaCo), and CompTIA for innovation in election administration. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Election Officials and is a member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE), the Bi-Partisan Policy Center’s Election Workforce Advisory Council, the Union for Concerned Scientists Election Science Taskforce, and the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions (PLEJ).

John C. Fortier is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on Congress and elections, election administration, election demographics, voting (and absentee voting), the US presidency, and the Electoral College. Before rejoining AEI, Fortier was director of governmental studies at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project. He is the author and editor of After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College (AEI Press, 2004; fourth edition, 2020), Second-Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (Brookings Institution Press, 2007), and Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises, and Perils (AEI Press, 2006). A prolific writer, Fortier has been published in scholarly journals and the popular press, including Politico and The Hill.

Sophia Lin Lakin is the director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s Voting Rights Project, where she directs and supervises the ACLU’s voting rights litigation strategy nationwide. Lakin has an active docket protecting voting rights and combatting voter suppression and discriminatory redistricting plans across the country and has led or worked on successful challenges to discriminatory voting laws in multiple states including North Carolina. She has testified on election law issues before Congress numerous times and has written opinion pieces for The Hill and The Boston Globe. Before joining the ACLU, Sophia clerked for the Honorable Raymond J. Lohier, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Carol Bagley Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Jason M. Roberts (moderator) is a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Politics of Ballot Design (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Ambition, Competition, and Electoral Reform (University of Michigan Press, 2013), and various editions of The American Congress (Rowman and Littlefield). His research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and other outlets. He has served as a member of the Orange County, NC Board of Elections since 2019.

Date: September 18, 2024

Times: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Audience: Public Event

Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium

Join us for a National Issues Forum dialogue to discuss strategies to create a culture of consent on UNC's campus. High rates of sexual violence at UNC emphasize the need to work towards creating a culture of consent to prevent sexual and gender-based violence among our college community. Through this dialogue we invite students passionate about violence prevention and/or looking to learn more to share your input on what needs to happen to work towards a safer campus community. RSVP Here

This event is co-sponsored by the Student Dialogue Ambassador program supported by NC Campus Engagement, Campus Y Civic Engagement, and the Program for Public Discourse.

Date: April 24, 2024

Times: 4:00PM – 6:00 PM

Audience: Public Event

Venue: GSU, Room 2423

The Agora Fellows invite students across the university to participate in its final Tar Heel Town Hall of the semester on Friday, April 12, 1:30-3:30 p.m., in Graham Student Union 3408. Students will share their thoughts on the upcoming presidential election and communicate the issues that matter to them and their generation. We will also explore reasons for low voter turnout among young people and strategize opportunities to turn it around. Event satisfies CLE credit.

Date: April 12, 2024

Times: 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Audience: Public Events

Venue: Graham Student Union, Room 3408

The Student Free Speech Alliance is thrilled to host Nadine Strossen, who is the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School and past President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), a Senior Fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education) and a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties. Strossen has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. She serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Heterodox Academy, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the University of Austin.

Strossen will deliver a lecture on free speech in the United States as part of George Mason University's Voices for Liberty Initiative, which is examining the role free speech has played and continues to play in advancing civil rights in America, particularly for historically disadvantaged and/or socially marginalized groups. Registration Link

Date: March 26, 2024

Times: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Audience: Public Events

Venue: Hanes Art Center, Room 121

On February 21st, 2024 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium, two UNC political scientists Jeff Spinner-Halev and Navin Bapat discuss the politics conflict between Israel and Palestine as part of the Abbey Speaker Series. Spinner-Halev regularly teaches a course titled "Ethics of Peace, War, and Defense". His most recent book (co-authored with Elizabeth Theiss-Morse) is Respect and Loathing in American Democracy. Professor Bapat's research interests include examining conflicts involving violent non-state actors, such as insurgencies and terrorist campaigns. This event is co-sponsored by the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies; the UNC Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies; and the Peace, War, and Defense department.

This event requires tickets. Tickets are free and over 300 tickets will be available to the public at the Carolina Union Box Office starting at 4 pm the day of the event. Only one ticket will be issued to each guest. Unfortunately, tickets are limited so you should arrive early to secure a seat. Tickets will be issued digitally via email or phone number and must be presented for entry. We will reserve a limited number of advance tickets for people traveling from out of town. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu for a reservation. We are no longer reserving tickets via email. Please go to the Union box office after 4pm on 2/21 to secure your tickets.

Jeff Spinner-Halev teaches political theory in the department of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is the Kenan Eminent Professor of Political Ethics. He has a B.A. and PhD from the University of Michigan, both in political science. He regularly teaches the course at Carolina on the Ethics of Peace, War and Defense. His research focuses on the tensions that arise within contemporary liberal and democratic theory, and between theory and practice. His most recent book (co-authored with Elizabeth Theiss-Morse) is Respect and Loathing in American Democracy: Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming).

Navin Bapat is the Dowd Professor of Peace and War in political science and the chair of the curriculum of peace, war, and defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1998 and pursued graduate studies at Rice University, where he received an M.A. and a PhD in political science. Professor Bapat’s research interests include examining conflicts involving violent non-state actors, such as insurgencies and terrorist campaigns, using formal and empirical methods. He is also involved an ongoing project examining the use and the effectiveness of economic sanctions. His book, Monsters to Destroy: Understanding the War on Terror, was published with Oxford University Press.

Date: February 21, 2024

Times: 05:30PM – 07:00PM

Audience: Public Event

Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union, The Auditorium

Join us for an enlightening evening with renowned social psychologist and professor, Jonathan Haidt. Haidt will discuss dynamics that are reshaping university campuses, explore America's dwindling trust in higher education, and offer suggestions as to what academic institutions must do to regain society’s confidence. This event is presented by Heterodox Heels and co-sponsored by the Program for Public Discourse. The event is free and open to the public, but please click here to register

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business. His research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultural and political divisions. Haidt is the author of The NY Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind (2012) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018, with Greg Lukianoff). His new book, The Anxious Generation, is coming out in March.

Date: February 7, 2024

Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm

Audience: Public Event

Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union, The Auditorium

Social protest is a vital form of democratic expression with a long tradition on college campuses such as UNC. In recent months, universities have witnessed passionate protests addressing a variety of issues on campuses across the nation. Some even protested a recent PPD event. The Agora is proud to invite students to share their perspectives on campus protest as a mode of expression and political action: What are its functions? What are its limitations? Can protests go too far? Do we need more protest? What responsibilities should institutions bear to protect both protesters and the targets of their demonstrations? How can protest enhance or undermine campus public discourse? We invite you to engage these and other questions with us, as well as bring your own!

Date: February 2, 2024

Times: 01:30 pm – 03:30 pm

Audience: Undergradutes

Venue: Student Union 2518 AB