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By Vince Frieden, Associate Director of Development Communications
OXFORD, Ohio—The Miami University Department of Political Science has announced that a commitment from the Thomas W. Smith ’50 Foundation has renewed the highly popular JANUS Forum through the 2017-2018 academic year while also enhancing student opportunities and faculty support in the study and debate of liberty and democracy.
“The JANUS Forum has been enthusiastically embraced by the Miami University community over the past three years, and we are excited that it will remain a cornerstone of lively political discussion on our campus,” President David Hodge said. “Whether expressed through our Mission Statement and Code of Love and Honor or demonstrated through our rich history, Miamians prize diversity of thought, the ability to think critically and a lifelong commitment to engaged citizenship.”
Miami’s JANUS Forum is a biannual public platform that brings together experts from opposing sides of an issue to discuss significant political and cultural aspects of American democracy. The event, which has addressed topics including foreign policy, economic inequality and the role of government in a free society, has welcomed five straight sellout audiences.
This fall’s JANUS Forum headline event welcomes activist authors Rinku Sen and Christina Hoff Sommers to address women’s equality issues. It begins 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Wilks Theater within Miami’s Armstrong Student Center. The event is open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets are available through Miami’s Box Office in Shriver Center, and overflow seating will be available in the Armstrong Student Center’s Pavilion.
The JANUS Forum is sponsored through the Thomas W. Smith Project on Liberty, Democracy and Citizenship, which supports a variety of opportunities within the Department of Political Science, including the JANUS Student Group, internships, visiting speakers, a liberty capstone course and a postdoctoral scholar in political economy. The latest support adds two key elements:
- The addition of a Hayek Fellow, which will be selected annually from Miami’s existing faculty to teach a class and conduct a research project in the area of political economy, democratic theory and/or the enduring challenges posed to a system of limited government and self-governance.
- Funding for an Academic Coordinator position to lead the liberty capstone course and provide additional leadership and direction for the overall project.
The project’s overarching goals are to encourage and develop deeper critical thinking; to provide more meaningful engagement with the accumulated knowledge of political economy, political philosophy, democracy and citizenship; and to raise Miami’s profile as a place where such thinking takes place.
“The JANUS Forum and the Thomas W. Smith Project on Liberty, Democracy and Citizenship have certainly strengthened what we are able to offer to students within the Department of Political Science. More importantly, they have encouraged a campus-wide discourse on policies and theories that are as important to our nation today as when our Founders debated them,” said Patrick Haney, Chair of the Department of Political Science. “We are extremely grateful for the investment of Thomas W. Smith and look forward to the exciting opportunities and continued growth his support makes possible.