The Bicentennial Symposium - Democracy: Past, Present, and Future

Join us for the Bicentennial Academic Symposium at Lafayette College

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

8:15-9 a.m. – Registration/Light breakfast reception

(Farinon Student Center, Marlo Room)

9-10:15 a.m. – Faculty Panel III: Democracy, Data, and Decision-Making

(Farinon Student Center, Marlo Room)

• Adam Biener (economics) –”Lean Budgets: The Role of Government in Patients’ Access to and Financing of GLP-1s for Weight Loss”
• Caleb Gallemore (international affairs) – “The Shape of Advocacy in Open and Closed Political Systems”
• Sofia Serrano (computer science) – “Using Language Models to Study Government”

10:30-11:45 a.m. – Faculty Panel IV: Histories and Narratives of Democracies 

(Farinon Student Center, Marlo Room)

• Dennis Johannßen (language and literary studies) – “Language and Resistance During the Weimar Republic”
• Ilan Peleg (government and law and Jewish studies) – “The Global Decline of Democracy: Corrupt Populism, Autocratization, and Resistance”
• Katherine Stafford (language and literary studies) – “Perpetrator Studies and Democracy: The Case of Spain”

12-2 p.m. – Akhil Reed Amar plenary address and lunch followed by book signing

(Pfenning Alumni Center, Wilson Room)

“America at 250: From ‘All Men Are Created Equal’ in 1776 to the Birth Equality Idea in the 1860s and the Birthright Citizenship Debate Today”

Abstract: In July 1776, famous Americans famously proclaimed that “all men are created equal.” What did this mean then? What did this and closely related propositions mean in the Civil War and Reconstruction era? What do these ideas mean today? In particular, what might they mean in connection with modern debates about women’s rights and birthright citizenship?

Free copies of Professor Amar’s book will be available at the talk while supplies last and his keynote address will be accompanied by lunch and followed by a book signing.

2:15-3:30 p.m. – Faculty Panel V: Democracy Around the Globe

(Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Room 104)

• Anna Callis (government and law) – “Labor Organizations and Democratic Engagement: The Political Effects of Union Decline in Peru”
• Ernest Nkansah-Dwamena (environmental studies) – “The Global Land Rush and Squeeze: The Hidden Battle for Africa’s Soils”
• Seo-Hyun Park (government and law) – “Democracy and Nationalism in East Asia”

3:45-5 p.m. – Faculty Panel VI: Democratic Deliberation and Participation

(Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Room 104)

• Chetan Cetty (philosophy) – “Ideal Institutions and Complexity”
• Stephanie Chan (government and law) – “Creative Citizenship”
• Joaquín Gómez-Miñambres (economics) – “Reasoning Together: The Behavioral Economics of Belief in a Democratic Society” 

5-5:30 p.m. – Closing Reception

(Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Lobby)