The University will be closed December 19, 2024 to January 5, 2025. If you need assistance during that time, please call 1-855-OWU-1842 and leave a detailed voicemail along with your contact information. One of our colleagues will respond to your call as soon as possible.
If you would like to make a 2024 gift, please make your gift before midnight on December 31.
The 2024 Presidential Election is critical to the future of American democracy. It promises to be close and contentious, and has already demonstrated the potential for protest and political violence. As part of its ongoing commitment to civic education, Ohio Wesleyan University presents Democracy Matters: a colloquium that investigates the challenges to American democracy and highlights the dedicated public servants trying to protect the American experiment. Democracy Matters encourages students to participate in the election while providing them with the context and skills necessary to make informed decisions about their future.
Democracy Matters is co-sponsored by the Sagan National Colloquium, the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs, and OWU's Department of Politics and Government. Generously funded by the Sagan family, the Colloquium explores an issue of national and international significance from multiple educational angles and forges links between liberal arts learning and the lifelong civic art of informed, involved citizenship.
The Sagan National Colloquium is a non-partisan educational endeavor and does not endorse specific parties, positions, or candidates.
The 2024-2025 SNC will be co-directed by Drs. Ashley Biser and Brianna Mack. Please contact them for additional information.
Date and Time: Sept. 11, 2024 from 12:10-1 p.m.
Location: R.W. Corns Building 312
Description: Did you watch the presidential debate? Did you find it confusing? Annoying? What are the candidates arguing about? Can a president even DO anything about the economy, reproductive rights, the environment? Come talk to your professors and fellow students about the debate. Bring your lunch and chat with faculty about the upcoming election. We will watch a few clips and try to decipher what's at stake, answer your questions about the election, and talk about where you can find out more about the issues that concern you.
Who: Ashley Biser, Brianna Mack, James Franklin, Politics & Government Student Board
Date and Time: Sept. 30 from 12:10-1 p.m.
Location: Merrick Hall 301
Description: The 2024 election has major implications for environmental policy, and yet the environment is often missing from election coverage. At this Lunch and Learn, Dr. Laurie Anderson, Dr. John Krygier, and Dr. Franchesca Nestor will share their perspectives on "The Election and the Environment." A guide comparing the major parties on environmental issues created by students will be available. Students from several Environment & Sustainability courses will contribute background for issues the panel will discuss.
Co-Sponsors: SNC, ENVS Sustainability Taskforce, Politics & Government
Date: Oct. 2, 2024 from 7-8:30 p.m.
Location: Hamilton Williams Campus Center, Benes Rooms
Description: This panel will engage the audience in the process of thinking through alternatives to the current electoral system as part of an effort to encourage participation in the electoral process Moderated by Dr. Franchesca Nestor, the panel will begin with a short overview of different types of electoral reform, before hearing from representatives from Rank the Vote Ohio, Fair Districts Ohio and others involved in efforts to try to make our political institutions more responsive to citizens' concerns.
Date and Time: Oct. 3, 2024 from 12:10-1 p.m.
Location: Merrick Hall 204
Description: Did you watch the vice-presidential debate? Did you find it confusing? Annoying? What are the candidates arguing about? Can a Vice President even DO anything about the economy, reproductive rights, the environment? Come unpack the debate through an interdisciplinary lens. Talk to your professors in AGIS, Communications, and Politics and Government about the upcoming election. We will watch a few clips and try to decipher what's at stake, answer your questions about the election, and talk about where you can find out more about the issues that concern you.
Who: Ashley Biser, PG Department, Dawn Chisebe, Africana, Gender, and Identity Studies, and Phokeng Daily, Journalism and Communications
Date and Time: Oct. 17, 2024 from 6-7:30 p.m.
Location: Slocum Hall, Milligan Room 122
Description: As concerns about election security rise, this panel will highlight the dedicated citizens who work to ensure the integrity of elections. You may have heard about security threats on American Elections in 2016. Or heard allegations of the "Big Steal" in 2020 talked about in the news. But do you know about ALL of the steps in place to keep elections secure, accurate, and accessible to all registered voters? As we prepare for Election Day 2024, join us to learn about the entire Election Day process, how voting works and election security and integrity. Come ask the experts any and all questions you may have about how your vote is counted. Moderated by Dr. Brianna Mack.
Date and Time: Nov. 13, 2024 at 7 p.m.
Location: Benes Room in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center
Description: Israel's war in Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas has produced a humanitarian catastrophe with no end in sight, with conflict escalating into Lebanon and reverberating across the broader Middle East. Is it too late for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Can a broader regional war still be averted? How did U.S. policies in the Middle East fail to prevent these disasters, and what can the new administration do to help create a more stable, peaceful, and just region?
Who: Marc Lynch, Ph.D., professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University and a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Lynch is also the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science, a contributing editor for The Washington Post's former Monkey Cage political science page, and more. His presentation is Ohio Wesleyan's 35th annual John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics sponsored by the International Studies Program and the Department of Politics & Government.
More events to come!