Ohio Wesleyan Professor to Examine Irish Issues in St. Patrick’s Day Interview
Sean Kay, Ph.D.
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University professor Sean Kay, Ph.D., will discuss Ireland today during an hour-long interview March 17 on WOSU radio’s “All Sides with Ann Fisher.”
Kay, author of “Celtic Revival? The Rise, Fall, and Renewal of Global Ireland,” will appear on the NPR-affiliated talk show from 11 a.m. to noon on St. Patrick’s Day. “All Sides” is broadcast on 89.7 FM and archived online afterward for on-demand listening.
Kay, an Ohio Wesleyan professor of politics and government since 1999, is a frequent writer and commentator on Ireland’s political and economic climates.
Most recently, he published “Irish Prime Minister Should Boycott NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade” in the Feb. 26 edition of The Huffington Post. In his commentary, Kay encouraged Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to join the mayor of New York and others in boycotting the upcoming parade because of its ban on public displays of gay pride.
“Unfortunately, [Kenny] misses the point of those who question the legitimacy of using the public streets for a parade which denies basic freedoms,” writes Kay, noting that Irish laws criminalizing homosexual acts were taken off the books in 1993 and that Ireland legalized civil partnership rights in 2010.
In December, he published “The Celtic Cougar: Why Ireland’s economy only looks good from afar” in Foreign Policy and, subsequently, in the Chicago Tribune. The commentary discusses Ireland’s leaving the European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout mechanism.
“The tragic reality often lost in Ireland is that the bailout it just exited was not designed to help the country’s economy recover,” Kay writes. “[I]t was designed to contain the Irish crisis so it would not spread further in Europe. …”
At Ohio Wesleyan, Kay also serves as director of the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs and as chair of the university’s International Studies Program.
In addition, Kay is a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University and a fellow in foreign policy and national security at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private, coed university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, minors, and concentrations, and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world practice. OWU’s 1,850 students represent 42 states and 37 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.