Constitutional Studies Forum

The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Constitutional Studies Forum brings academic programming at UNO that educates students, faculty, and the wider Omaha community about the Constitution of the United States, America’s constitutional traditions, their origins and development, and competing arguments over their meaning and proper application.

The forum’s events teach participants about the thought that informed the Constitution at the time of the American Founding, but also about the thought that has informed its evolution over the course of our history, as well as present-day debates about the Constitution’s meaning, and the various defenses and criticisms of America’s constitutional arrangements.

By sponsoring such events, the Forum aims not only to increase knowledge of America’s constitutional traditions, but also to model for students — and to invite students into — reasoned, intellectually serious, respectful, and civil dialogue about contested public questions.

The Forum’s events have been sponsored by the Department of Political Science, with the generous support of the Jack Miller Center.

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2024 Past Events​

Date	Topic
April 25, 2024	When Church and State Were United: the Public Roles of Powerful Women in Renaissance Europe. Presented by Bronwen McShea, Augustine Institute Graduate School.
May 9, 2024	Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan. Panelists: Samantha Barbas, SUNY at Buffalo School of Law Jeremy Lipschultz, UNO School of Communication Carson Holloway, UNO Department of Political Science
Sept. 19, 2024	The Constitution According to George Washington. Presented by Professor Michael Nelson, Rhodes College
Nov. 14, 2024	Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, and the Dangerous Politics of Renaissance England. Presented by Professor L. Joseph Hebert, St. Ambrose University.

2023 Past Events​

Date	Topic	Recording
May 4, 2023	Pope Benedict XVI on the Moral Foundations of Politics was presented by R. R. Reno.	Watch Now
May 4, 2023	Seminar: Pope Benedict XVI on Freedom, Religion, and Politics, presented by R. R. Reno, who has served as Editor of First Things since 2011. He received his Ph.D. in theology from Yale University, and taught theology and ethics at Creighton University in Omaha for 20 years.	N/A
March 30, 2023	Politics, Philosophy, and the Origins of Modern Science, a seminar presented by Arthur Milikh, Executive Director of the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life.	Watch Now
March 30, 2023	Seminar: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy and the Freedom of the Press	N/A
March 2, 2023	Has Liberalism Failed? A panel discussion featuring Patrick Deneen (University of Notre Dame), Vincent Phillip Munoz (University of Notre Dame), and Carson Holloway (UNO).	N/A

2022 Events​

Date	Topic	Recording
Feb. 22, 2022	The U.S. Constitution as a Politics of Imperfection — presented by David McPherson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University.	Watch Now
Feb. 22, 2022	Somewheres and Anywheres: Patriotism versus Cosmopolitanism — presented by David McPherson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University.	N/A
March 30, 2022	The Original 1619 Project: Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural — presented by Diana Schaub, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a non-resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.	Watch Now
April 21, 2022	Was John Locke a Libertarian? — presented by David Azerrad, Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C.	Watch Now
April 21, 2022	Nihilism and the Origins of Modern War — presented by David Azerrad, Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C.	N/A
April 28, 2022	American Constitutional Democracy in the Age of Social Media — presented by Alan Gibson, a Kinder Institute Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the University of Missouri.	N/A
April 29, 2022	Kent A. Kirwan Lecture: The Consistency of James Madison — The Case of the Bill of Rights — The 2022 Kent A. Kirwan Lecture was presented by Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame. A panel discussion on "The Legacy of James Madison" followed the lecture. Panelists included: Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame William B. Allen, Michigan State University Alan Gibson, University of Missouri	Watch Now
Aug. 25, 2022	The Separation of Science and State — presented by Michael Kochin, Professor Extraordinarius in the School of Political Science, Government, and International Relations at Tel Aviv University.	N/A
Aug. 31, 2022	The Constitution Viewed From Without: The Security Dilemma and the Constitution of 1787 — presented by Michael Kochin, Professor Extraordinarius in the School of Political Science, Government, and International Relations at Tel Aviv University	Watch Now
Sept. 22, 2022	Public Lecture: The State of the Supreme Court Today — presented by Derek Webb, a Senior Managing Associate at Sidley Austin, LLP in their Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group and the Dean's Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center.	N/A
Oct. 6, 2022	Freedom from Religion or Freedom for Religion: Rethinking the First Amendment's Protection for Religious Liberty — presented by Vincent Phillip Muñoz, the Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He is also the Founding Director of ND’s Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government.	Watch Now
Nov. 10, 2022	Liberty, Union, and the Constitution: Lessons from the Nineteenth Century — This panel featured three distinguished scholars presenting on the constitutional thought of three important 19th-century American leaders. Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University spoke on Abraham Lincoln, Pete Myers of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire presented on Frederick Douglass, and John Grove of Liberty Fund presented on John C. Calhoun.