GAMBIER — A star-studded lineup of distinguished speakers will appear at Kenyon College this fall as part of a lecture series examining the state of American democracy.
The mix of media giants, scholars and politicos from across the ideological spectrum will include George Packer — staff writer at The Atlantic and National Book Award-winning author — and William Kristol, noted neoconservative thinker and editor-at-large of The Bulwark. Larry Diamond, founding editor of The Journal of Democracy, and former senator and ambassador Jeff Flake will take part as well.
All of the events from Kenyon’s Center for the Study of American Democracy (CSAD) are free and open to the public. Each will take place in Oden Hall’s Archon Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
“We at CSAD are very excited to be able to host such a terrific group of writers, scholars and policy advocates, all of whom have weighed in with significant efforts to protect and promote our democracy,” said Joseph L. Klesner, CSAD director and a professor of political science and international studies.
The series kicks off Sept. 17 with a lecture by Packer, who has reported extensively on national politics and U.S. foreign policy. He is the author of the award-winning book “The Unwinding,” which explored the forces that would lead to the election of President Donald Trump and the rise of the Make America Great Again movement.
Packer’s talk, which takes place on Constitution Day, is titled “What is a Patriot in America Today?” It will focus on competing understandings of patriotism and national identity in the U.S. today.
An emphasis on democracy
Kristol is the founder of The Weekly Standard magazine. He now works for the center-right website The Bulwark, founded by Sarah Longwell, Kenyon Class of 2002. He will speak on “The Fate of American Democracy” on Oct. 20.
On Oct. 27, Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and senior fellow in global democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, will discuss “The Wave of Democratic Backsliding and How to Reverse It.” Diamond has written or edited dozens of books on democracy.
Finishing out the series, Flake — a former Republican representative and senator from Arizona known for working across the political aisle — will speak on Nov. 4. Flake, who served as the ambassador to Turkey from 2022 to 2024, will focus on the topic, “Bridging the Divide: Can Bipartisanship Make a Comeback?”
All events start at 7:30 p.m. Parking is available on site behind Chalmers Library in the West Quad Parking Garage.
Established in 2007, Kenyon’s Center for the Study of American Democracy organizes conferences, lectures, and seminars to stimulate nonpartisan civic and political discourse. It also provides teaching and research opportunities for faculty and students and promotes student internships in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact the Center for the Study of American Democracy at americandemocracy@kenyon.edu or 740-427-5855.
Knox Community Hospital proudly supports the vibrant pulse of our community by sponsoring the Life & Culture section on Knox Pages, celebrating the stories and experiences that make our region unique.