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Floyd Abrams: Country desperately needs to be thinking about free speech

September 12, 2017

Prominent First Amendment lawyer kicks off yearlong ASU lecture series about intellectual diversity on college campuses

Free speech, one of the most basic rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens, has become a hot-button issue with phrases like “fake news” and “safe space” entering the national lexicon, and arguments raging over what is and is not acceptable conversation for the public square.

Lawyer and author Floyd Abrams — who over the course of a career spanning more than half a century has argued and won many significant Supreme Court First Amendment cases that protected freedom of speech, including the Pentagon Papers case — took the stage Tuesday night to speak on why now, more than ever, free speech must be protected.

“It’s worth thinking about why we protect some speech,” Abrams said, alluding to what many have viewed to be intolerant rhetoric in recent weeks and months. He cited former Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black, who said, “The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the government commands.”

The fact that the speech of some may make others uncomfortable is the price Americans pay for the protection of their own speech.

Abrams' talk at the Arizona PBS Studios on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus kicked off the 2017–18 lecture series “Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society,” a series created by the recently launched School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL) in hopes of encouraging a more productive dialogue in an increasingly heated arena.

In the last year on college campuses, conflicting views about what exactly is protected by the First Amendment have resulted in schisms ranging from fierce debates to outright violence, as was the case when two students were carted off, bloodied and in handcuffs, after coming to blows over alt-right white nationalist Richard Spencer’s visit to Auburn University.

At the same time, a number of universities and colleges, bowing to student pressure and likely hoping to avoid similar incidents, joined a long list of institutions disinviting high-profile speakers perceived as potentially incendiary — among them, divisive British political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, rapper Action Bronson and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter.

But, said ASU Professor and SCETL Founding Director Paul Carrese, allowing for argument and civil dialogue between parties who disagree is “what universities are all about.”

“This year’s (lecture series) theme rose out of an immediate question facing universities and colleges about speakers on campus sparking protests and even violence, and being disinvited or shutting down the campus,” Carrese said.

“The larger issue is, what is a university or college’s mission? … We thought our mission was not to provide a specific answer but that the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership could be a national space to have the debate about that.”

At Tuesday night’s event — co-sponsored by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law — Abrams was introduced by Associate Professor of Journalism Joseph Russomanno, who said there may be no one else who has worked so hard to uphold the First Amendment as Abrams.

After being welcomed to the stage, Abrams expressed his pleasure at being the first to speak in such “a series of lectures at time when the country desperately needs to be thinking about free speech and intellectual diversity.”

He then recounted with dismay recent testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in which he found it “almost too easy” to list a number of recent incidents involving the misinterpretation or suppression of free speech on college campuses.

In regards to a lawsuit filed just last week against Michigan State University for refusing to provide a space for Spencer to speak, Abrams said, “His views I consider to be ugly in nature, and I am not at all alone in thinking that.”

However, free speech protects even potentially incendiary speakers invited to speak on campuses.

“Discrimination on the basis of message and content cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment,” he said. “That being so, speech must be permitted and campuses must take adequate precautions to prevent violence.”

First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams speaks at ASU

First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams (right), who represented The New York Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case, discusses free speech on campus with ASU Associate Professor Joe Russomanno on Tuesday in Phoenix. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Abrams’ encouragement of the audience to consider the rationale behind free-speech laws echoes SCETL’s goal to involve and educate the university and community at large about civil discourse and fundamental American values and principles.

According to Carrese, if universities lead the way on free speech and the serious, responsible and open exchange of ideas on campus, they can set an example of what it means to be an educated, active citizen for the community beyond the campus.

SCETL is working with ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Great Hearts Academies in Phoenix to develop a master’s degree focused on classical, liberal education. The school also recently facilitated the acquisition of a first printing of the Federalist Papers, of which only 500 exist. There are plans to collaborate with ASU Gammage on a public exhibition of the document when the Broadway production of “Hamilton” comes to Tempe this winter. (Alexander Hamilton was one of three writers of the Federalist papers. His co-writers were John Jay and James Madison.)

The lecture series and other upcoming panels and events hosted by SCETL — all free and open to the public — are being filmed by Arizona PBS, which will use the content to produce a four-part series that will air next year. The content will also be made into a book, separately.

Next up in the lecture series is a debate between former U.S. Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Tom Daschle (D-SD), titled “Disagreement and Civil Dialogue on American Politics and Civic Culture.” It is scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Katzin Concert Hall on the Tempe campus.

“[They have] agreed to share the stage and have a dialogue about why it’s important to keep discussing and arguing with people who hold divergent views from your own,” Carrese said. “That’s what universities are all about.”

Find more events here.

Top photo: First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case, discusses free speech on campus before 200 people at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Tuesday. The talk is part in the "Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society" lecture series, sponsored by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, the Cronkite School and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Emma Greguska

Editor , ASU News

(480) 965-9657

Hamilton and 'Hamilton' bring Constitution into focus


September 12, 2017

A little more than a year ago, in what quickly became the most memorable moment of the 2016 National Democratic Convention, speaker Khizr Kahn brandished a pocket version of the U.S. Constitution and offered to lend it to then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The simple but compelling gesture led to a sharp rise in the book’s online sales and searches, with many stores selling out of all their copies. woman holding pocket US Consititution Pocket copies of the Constitution will be given away on Sept. 18 in celebration of Constitution Day at ASU. Download Full Image

“At one point, last year, the Constitution was a top seller on Amazon,” said Brad Vogus, associate librarian for ASU Library.

For the 11th consecutive year, Vogus will be distributing those same $1 pocket Constitutions popularized by Kahn, in celebration of Constitution Day at ASU, slated for Monday, Sept. 18.

An annual national event, Constitution Day was established in 1956 as a way to commemorate our country’s most influential document and help foster habits of citizenship.

“The Constitution is our most important law document. It defines the fundamental law of our government,” Vogus said. “This event gives our students and the public an opportunity to learn more about it.”

Also, it’s the law, he said.

In 2005, programs aimed at promoting a greater understanding of the Constitution became required of federally-funded schools and government offices.

This year’s program at ASU will shine a light on the hit musical “Hamilton” and the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed in the show.

“Since the musical ‘Hamilton’ will be at Gammage this season, we think there will be great enthusiasm for this talk,” Vogus said.

The talk — Hamilton and ‘Hamilton — will be led by Peter McNamara, a professor of practice in ASU’s new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership and an expert on the political and economic thought of Hamilton.

Paying close attention to each man’s political views, McNamara will examine how the Hamilton-Jefferson rivalry ultimately helped shape the U.S. Constitution.

The event, to take place from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., in room C55 at Hayden Library, is free and open to the public. Resources and more information about Constitution Day are also available via the ASU Library guide.

Pocket copies of the Constitution will be given away before the event — but only while supplies last.

Britt Lewis

Communications Specialist, ASU Library

 
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ASU selected as nation's most innovative school for third straight year

ASU named most innovative university for third straight year.
Why is ASU considered to be so innovative? It's changing higher ed completely.
September 11, 2017

U.S. News and World Report ranks ASU ahead of Stanford, MIT

Editor's note: This story is being highlighted in ASU Now's year in review. To read more top stories from 2017, click here.

For the third year in a row, Arizona State University tops the list of “most innovative schools” in the nation, recognizing the university’s groundbreaking initiatives, partnerships, programs and research.

U.S. News and World Report has named ASU as the most innovative university all three years it has had the category. The widely touted set of annual rankings by the news magazine, which compares more than 1,500 institutions on a variety of metrics, was released today.

ASU again topped the list based on a survey of peers. College presidents, provosts and admissions deans around the country nominated up to 10 colleges or universities that are making the most innovative improvements to curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities.

“Our colleagues at colleges and universities around the country are very interested in what we’re doing, and they pay close attention to all that we have been able to achieve,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “They know that all the cool stuff is going on at ASU.”

After ASU, the second and third most innovative universities were Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the same ranking as the previous two years. The next universities on the innovative list are Georgia State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University, the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, the University of Michigan and Harvard University, with Duke and Portland State universities tied for 10th place.

The innovation ranking is due at least in part to a more than 80 percent improvement in ASU’s graduation rate in the past 15 years, the fact that ASU is the fastest-growing research university in the country and the emphasis on inclusion and student success that has led to more than 50 percent of the school’s in-state freshman coming from minority backgrounds.

“We now know that because of our innovation platform and our innovation culture, we’re just getting started,” Crow said. “Our pace of innovation is not just continuing, it’s accelerating.” 

In addition, the magazine designated ASU as an “A+ School for B Students,” a list of universities that are not ranked. Schools on the list had to admit a meaningful proportion of applicants whose test scores and class standing put them in non-A territory but whose freshmen retention rate was at least 75 percent.

The “most innovative school” ranking wasn’t the result of any one specific program, but the holistic approach to inventing a new kind of university ASU has undertaken. Still, ASU has launched several recent unique initiatives. Here are a few:

Mary Beth Faller

Reporter , ASU News

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ASU school's first annual Constitution Day lecture to explore 'The Renaissance of Federalism'


September 8, 2017

Arizona State University’s new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership is establishing a new campus tradition with its inaugural Constitution Day lecture at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, when the honorable Clint Bolick, Arizona Supreme Court associate justice, shares his thoughts on “The Renaissance of Federalism.” To register, visit http://bit.ly/2gNQwKn.

The school will host the first annual lecture to celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution to promote both understanding and appreciation of our nation’s fundamental law. September 17, 1787 was the final day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia; with George Washington presiding as the president of the convention, the delegates who supported the final draft added their signatures to the text. Photo of the Honorable Clint Bolick The Honorable Clint Bolick, associate justice, Arizona Supreme Court, is scheduled as the inaugural speaker for the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership's first annual Constitution Day lecture. Download Full Image

“We are delighted that a distinguished legal advocate, scholar, and now state Supreme Court justice will deliver the inaugural lecture,” said school director Paul Carrese. “Each year we set aside a day to remind us that the Constitution is the ultimate standard for our legal system and the rule of law in the United States. To understand what is at stake in important debates, like the one concerning Federalism, one, we continue to study and discuss the Constitution.”

Justice Bolick was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey in January 2016 to serve on the Arizona Supreme Court. Prior to joining the Court, Justice Bolick litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts from coast to coast, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Among other positions, he served as Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and as Co-founder and Vice President for Litigation at the Institute for Justice.

The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception with light hors d'oeuvre. Off-campus guests who park in the Fulton Center parking garage on the corner of College Avenue and University Drive may bring their parking tickets to the event check-in for validation .

Continuing Legal Education Credit (CLE) is available for those in the legal community who attend. The Arizona State Bar does not approve or accredit CLE activities or the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. This activity may qualify for up to 1.0 hour(s) toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona, including 0.0 hours of professional responsibility. CLE participants can register via the link on the event's RSVP page.

The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership is a new school in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that looks beyond time and borders to explore the fundamental questions of life, freedom, and governance.

Susan Kells

Communications Coordinator, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

480-965-0427

First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams to discuss free speech on campus at ASU event


August 30, 2017

Floyd Abrams, the prominent First Amendment attorney who represented The New York Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case, is coming to Arizona State University to discuss freedom of speech on campus.

Abrams is taking part in the “Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society” lecture series at ASU at 6 p.m. Sept. 12. The event will be located on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Free registration is available online on Eventbrite. Floyd Abrams First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case, is coming to ASU on Sept. 12 to discuss freedom of speech on campus. Download Full Image

The event is sponsored by ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, a new program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that looks beyond time and borders to explore the fundamental questions of life, freedom, and governance. It also is co-sponsored by the Cronkite School and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU.

“We are delighted to have such a prominent national leader on First Amendment issues to launch this series,” said Professor Paul Carrese, director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. “The goal of this yearlong series is to convene leading experts on free speech and intellectual diversity in education, and leaders in American civic life, to explore the heated debates and clashes in higher education about free discourse, civility, diversity and inclusion.”

Abrams, a senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, has argued high-profile cases before the Supreme Court on the First Amendment, the nature of broadcast regulation, the impact of copyright law and the continuing viability of the Miranda rule.

In 1971, Abrams represented The New York Times before the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling, which permitted the publishing of classified documents about American involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1998, he represented CNN in investigating and issuing a report on its broadcast accusing the U.S. of using nerve gas on a military mission in Laos in 1970.

Abrams also represented journalist Nina Totenberg and National Public Radio in the 1992 leak investigation conducted by the U.S. Senate arising out of the confirmation hearing of Justice Clarence Thomas and, in 2004 and 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time reporter Matthew Cooper in their efforts to avoid revealing their confidential sources.

More recently, Abrams prevailed in his argument before the Supreme Court on behalf of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as amicus curiae, defending the rights of corporations and unions to speak publicly about politics and elections in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Cronkite School Associate Professor and First Amendment scholar Joseph Russomanno will moderate the conversation with Abrams. Russomanno, whose teaching and research have largely focused on First Amendment law and theory, has published several books and many in-depth research articles on the subject.

“When you consider the people who have made contributions over the past 40-plus years to the advancement and understanding of the First Amendment and free speech and press, no one has done more than Floyd Abrams, Russomanno said. “This includes not only his advocacy of First Amendment rights in our courts — including the U.S. Supreme Court — but also his many writings and talks where he shares his expertise. This event at ASU is another opportunity to learn from the best.”

“Freedom of Speech on Campus? A Conversation with Floyd Abrams”
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017
Time: 6–7:30 p.m.
Location: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication – Arizona PBS Studio
555. N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ, 85004
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/asu-hosts-freedom-of-speech-on-campus-a-conversation-with-floyd-abrams-tickets-36911146232?aff=es2

ASU In the News

Do pet sitters really need a license? How occupational licenses are hurting the economy


In New York City, you need a license to pet-sit someone’s dog (at least if you want to be paid). In Louisiana, you need a license to become a florist. Nine states require funeral attendants to be licensed before starting work.

License regimes emerge when states, cities, counties or the federal government regulate an activity, often in the interest of public safety. New York’s pet-sitting law, which requires licensees to buy insurance and use designated kennels, is meant to “ensure [the] health and safety of pets and reduce risks to public health,” the city’s Health Department says (though it very rarely enforces the regulation). “Licensing creates a fence that people trying to get into that occupation have to climb over, while, at the same time, protecting people within the fence who are already practicing the occupation.” [Source Image: totallyout/iStock]

“Licensing creates a fence that people trying to get into that occupation have to climb over, while, at the same time, protecting people within the fence who are already practicing the occupation, who would have to compete against them,” said Jason Wiens, policy director at the Kauffman Foundation, an entrepreneurship-focused think tank. “It’s an anticompetitive practice that has negative barriers to entrepreneurship.”

The effect is felt strongly by low-income workers, according to a study by Stephen Slivinski, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University. He finds that states with the most licensing requirements on low-income jobs tend to have the fewest opportunities for low-income workers. Louisiana, Oregon, and Mississippi have the most of these requirements, he says; Vermont, South Dakota, and Ohio have the fewest. In a 2012 report, the Institute of Justice looked at the requirements on 102 low- or moderate-licensed jobs. On average, they required nine months of training, at least one exam, and the payment of $209 in fees.

Article Source: Fast Company

Project Coordinator, Center for the Study of Economic Liberty

 
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New ASU school aims to elevate the political discourse

March 2, 2017

Public colloquium part of Friday's official launch of School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Editor's note: This story is being highlighted in ASU Now's year in review. To read more top stories from 2017, click here.

Editor’s note: ASU’s new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership officially launched Friday. Here are highlights from the morning kickoff, which was attended by new school director Paul Carrese, ASU President Michael Crow, Gov. Doug Ducey and other elected officials. The full story that published Thursday about the new school follows below.

Paul Carrese

At Friday’s launch event, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership director Paul Carrese said the aim of the school is “to develop a new class of leaders.”

“This distinctive school is a blending of tradition and innovation: great ideas with preparation for leadership service,” he said.

Gov. Doug Ducey

Free speech was a theme at the event, with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey quoting Frederick Douglass that “to suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”

“No one can ever accuse ASU of suppressing free speech,” Ducey said.

He also addressed the issue of a lack of diverse media exposure, saying, “We live in an age where it’s easy for people … to receive news from a single, handpicked source,” and that today’s university students are often encouraged to further insulate themselves from counter-perspectives.

“With this new school,” Ducey said, “ASU and the state of Arizona is bucking this trend. … As Americans, in times of great challenge, our heritage of rich intellectual discourse in the midst of different values and principles has served us honorably.

“The answer has never been less speech; it has always been more. Now at ASU and through the coursework at the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, this tradition can continue.”

Michael Crow

ASU President Michael Crow proudly introduced the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership as the 18th transdisciplinary school the university has launched.

“Education sits at the root of the core of the advancement of democracy,” Crow said, adding later that we “cannot advance the ideals of American democracy without intellectual combat.”

George Will

George Will (pictured above), a Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative political commentator, served as the keynote speaker of the event. He echoed Ducey’s statements on free speech, remarking, “Whatever else universities do, they shouldn’t attack free speech.”

He also touched on a number of hot-button issues concerning the current political climate, including cultural bias and immigration.

“Today, the temperature of politics is exceptionally high because the stakes are unusually high,” Will said. “We’re arguing about basics.”

The most crucial word in the Declaration of Independence, he said, is “secure.”

“Governments and institutions are meant to secure [basic human] rights. …That there is a fixed human nature, that we are not infinitely malleable,” Will said, because when you allow those in charge to assume we are infinitely malleable, “you license a very sinister political project. To make of human clay whatever the political class of the moment wants to happen. Our natural rights are essential to the flourishing of creatures of our nature.”

Will noted that American poet Robert Frost once said, “I’m against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise.”

“Arizona State and this new school within it is a way of letting the cream rise,” he said.

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(Original story below.)

The notion that strong leadership and civil discourse are necessary in public affairs is ancient, going back to the great Greek thinkers and debaters who laid the foundation for modern democracy.

Lately, though, Paul Carrese feels that notion is woefully overlooked.

“Our political culture is in very bad shape, regardless of partisanship,” he said.

It’s something he hopes to change as director of Arizona State University’s new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. The official school launch will take place at 7:30 a.m. Friday in the First Amendment Forum of the Walter Cronkite building on the Downtown Phoenix campus.

Roughly 150 guests are expected to attend, including Carrese, ASU President Michael Crow, Gov. Doug Ducey and other elected officials.

“America and other liberal democracies need to provide space in universities to think about politics, public affairs, leadership and civic society in a way that allows for the search for common good,” Carrese said.

The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership will combine the principles and ideals of two existing ASU centers — the Center for Political Thought and Leadership and the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty — to provide a unique curriculum that reinforces traditional learning of time-honored knowledge while encouraging students to get real-world experience.

“The mission of the school will be to introduce students to the great philosophical debates across centuries through classic texts, and to use those texts and debates to prepare them for civic-minded leadership in the future,” said Patrick Kenney, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and SciencesThe School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership is an academic unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences..

[video:https://vimeo.com/205962689 width:800 height:450 autoplay:0]

 

School faculty and staff also will help guide students toward internship opportunities, whether in government, business or non-governmental organizations, on both a local and state level. Carrese has identified four major metropolitan areas — Arizona, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. — in which he hopes to eventually place students in internships.

Courses for the school’s bachelor’s degree in “Great Ideas and Leadership” are now available in the course catalog and will begin in the upcoming fall semester. More developments are underway, including a graduate program and a visiting-scholars program.

All of that will be supplemented by an extensive regular program of lectures and public dialogues to provide a model of civil debate for students, faculty, staff and the community at large. The value of reasonably and effectively working through disagreements is something we all need to be reminded of right now, Carrese said.

The first of such public colloquiums will take place Friday at the ASU Art Museum in Tempe. “Leadership and Politics in America After Election 2016” will consist of three separate talks: “The Meaning of Election 2016”; “Public Policy and the Common Good in the Trump Era”; and “Is a Contentious but Constructive Politics Possible?”

Kenney will moderate the first talk, scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m.

“When I look back, I still remember as an undergrad going to hear visiting scholars and public intellectuals and top-tier reporters come to my university and talk, and it just really enlivens campus discussions and supplements and enhances the learning process and the range of views that are out there,” Kenney said. “President Crow has dedicated a lot of time and effort to that kind of thing across the university. It’s about bringing the world to ASU.”

 

Top photo: Conservative pundit George Will delivers the keynote address at the launch of ASU's new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, a transdisciplinary program with a goal of engaging students in building a democracy. The launch featured around 150 people at the First Amendment Forum at the Cronkite School on the Downtown Phoenix campus on Friday. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Public colloquium on leadership and politics marks launch of new school at ASU


February 23, 2017

Academic scholars from prestigious universities, a former senator and a political analyst, among others, will discuss leadership and politics after election 2016 for the launch of Arizona State University’s new school.

On Friday, March 3, the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership will host a public colloquium, “Leadership and Politics in America After Election 2016,” to mark its launch. The school will empower scholars to develop and advance elevated discourse regarding the fundamental questions of life, freedom, politics and public service. The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership launch image The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership will host a public colloquium to mark its launch. Download Full Image

Panelists will discuss the significance to particular patterns and results of the 2016 national elections, public policy and the common good in the early years of a Trump administration, and the traditional concern that republics or democracies tend toward self-destruction in factiousness or even civil war.

“This colloquium is the first of many school events that will feature prominent experts and diverse views about crucial questions of American politics and society, as well as international affairs,” said Paul Carrese, director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. “By restoring a curriculum of great debates about politics, economics and the big moral questions, ASU is innovating and building a foundation for students to become public servants and leaders in civil society.”

The colloquium will exemplify the new school’s themes of understanding the principles of America’s civic culture, political and economic order, and higher ideals of political leadership and statesmanship.

Delving into the great works of political thought, the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership will elicit vigorous debate in politics and civil society while developing statesmen and stateswomen for 21st century leadership and public service. In fall 2017, the school will offer its first courses toward a Bachelor of Arts degree or minor in Great Ideas and Leadership.

Find the complete event listing at the ASU Events site here.

Panelists include: Morris Fiorina, Stanford University and the Hoover Institution; Daniel Kessler, Stanford University and the Hoover Institution; William Kristol, The Weekly Standard; Jon Kyl, former U.S. Senator from Arizona; Harvey Mansfield, Harvard University and the Hoover Institution; Susan Shell, Boston College; Catherine Zuckert, University of Notre Dame; and Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame. 

Amanda Stoneman

Senior Marketing Content Specialist, EdPlus

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ASU In the News

How California's job standards worsen recidivism


In an op-ed, Stephen Slivinski, senior research fellow at Arizona State University talks about how California has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country.

The Golden State’s occupational licensing laws are stricter than most. In fact, the Institute for Justice ranks California as “the second-most broadly and onerously licensed state.”  Detainees line up at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic on March 11, 2015 Detainees line up at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic on March 11, 2015. Photo by Los Angeles Times

Whatever the state’s intentions, however, its onerous licensing laws have the effect of keeping ex-convicts out of licensed occupations. After years behind bars, they don’t have the savings needed to enroll in training programs, much less pay licensing fees. To become a licensed security alarm installer, for instance, an individual must complete 933 hours of training, which can easily cost upwards of $1,200. Many of the training programs, moreover, require a high school degree, which 2 in 5 inmates nationwide never obtained, according to a 2003 U.S. Department of Justice study.

To stay out of prison, ex-convicts need a way to provide for themselves legally. With so many barriers to employment, it’s no wonder that states with abundant licensing laws experience a higher recidivism rate.

In other words, the greater the licensing barriers, the higher the chances that ex-prisoners will be shut out of the job market and return to crime.

Article Source: Los Angeles Times

Project Coordinator, Center for the Study of Economic Liberty

Rehabilitating statesmanship

Paul Carrese, director of new ASU school on civic thought and leadership, brings passion for 'old-fashioned' concept


October 12, 2016

Paul Carrese thinks there’s an important concept missing from our current political lexicon: statesmanship.

It’s kind of an old-fashioned word, especially with something of a decline in statesmanlike examples in our hyper-partisan political environment and with the word’s implicit exclusion of stateswomen. Paul Carrese, director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership Paul Carrese wants to bring back the concept of statesmanship in American education, in the hopes of correcting what he sees as "great discontent and anger and polarization" in the country.

But there is something important there that Carrese wants to rehabilitate.

“In public affairs, I do think it would be helpful to bring back that old term and debate it,” Carrese said. “Why was that always held up as a term of honor and distinction?”

Carrese is well-positioned to consider statesmanship and all that it can mean. He is Arizona State University’s new director of the forthcoming School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, which will launch as a stand-alone academic entity within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in fall 2017.

One of Carrese’s goals for the new school is not only to create an environment for vigorous debate of topics in politics and civil society, but hopefully to develop some much-needed statesmen and stateswomen in the process.

So who exemplifies the virtues of statesmanship? Carrese notes that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln set an American standard, and says that more recent examples may include Ronald Reagan and former New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who also served as an ambassador and worked in several presidential administrations. There are also international figures like Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom during the 1980s, and Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister from 1969 to 1974.

These are “men and women who are clearly a cut above in their commitment to service before self,” Carrese said. “It’s not that they’re not ambitious for greatness and distinction, but they’re committed to a larger set of principles, liberal democratic principles, in [the United States’] case.”

(When he refers to democratic principles, Carrese means democratic with a small ‘d’ — principles without preference for political party.)

Carrese himself could be considered something of a statesman. Not because of any political office he has held, but because of a dedication to the ideals of political thought, philosophy and debate that he has brought to his 19 years of service as a civilian professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, his current academic home. (He starts at ASU on Jan. 1.)

His parents were both in serving professions: His father was a teacher and guidance counselor; his mother was a nurse. Neither was too far removed from the immigrant experience, and both felt gratitude to be in the United States.

As such, dinner-table conversation often focused on public affairs, politics and history, which, Carrese said, primed him to study the humanities when he got to college.

His CV reads as well as any: Rhodes Scholar, post-doctoral work at Harvard, fellowships abroad and at home, a handful of books authored and edited on political science and political thought.

At the Air Force Academy outside Colorado Springs, Carrese was charged with designing and administering an honors program for high-achieving cadets.

After the attacks of 9/11, Carrese and his team felt that for all the success the United States was having technologically and economically, there was something missing.

“We were having international and national leadership, political problems,” he said. “And so we needed to come up with the right balance of excellence in STEM with excellence in social sciences and humanities, the foundations for political leadership and military strategic leadership.”

What emerged was a successful program that led Carrese, who has spent his entire adult life thinking and writing and arguing about political ideas and leadership, inexorably to his new position at ASU.

The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership will aim to prepare learners for future public policy and leadership challenges in several ways. One of the most important will have students explore the great works of political thought, and the great leaders of American history, with an eye toward turning their lives to contributing to the common good. There, Carrese can help.

“Paul’s background contains the exact combination of academic rigor and real-world problem-solving and leadership training that will make the new school such a success,” said Pat Kenney, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “As with most things we do, ASU is embarking on making a concrete, measurable difference in our society, and I am confident, with Paul’s leadership, we will.”

If successful, that difference has the potential to address a clear and present problem in American civic life: a political system that, to many, seems absolutely broken.

“There clearly is something not going so well with American political life right now,” Carrese said. “Great discontent and anger and polarization … So we all need to pull together as universities and civil society and government and public affairs to do better than we’re doing now.”

A challenge this university may be uniquely situated to address.  

“I’m very proud of ASU that it is innovating in this way.”

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