Agenda
8:00 AM: Registration & Breakfast
8:30 AM: Welcome & Goals for the Day
8:45 AM: The Power of Small Connections: A Conversation with Nicholas Epley
- Nick Epley, John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow
- Moderated by: Seth Green, Dean, University of Chicago Graham School
We know social connection enriches our lives, so why do we avoid it? Join Professor of Behavioral Science Nicholas Epley for a fireside chat on his new book A Little More Social, exploring the hidden expectations that keep us from reaching out and the surprising power of everyday moments of connection.
10:00 AM: Break and mingling
10:30 AM: Breakout Sessions:
AI and the Human: The Future of Wisdom
- Beth Coronelli, Principal, Coronelli Advisors; MLA Alumni
- Timothy Mayes, Strategic Advisor and Investor; MLA Alumni
- Moderated by: Jason Bridges, Associate Professor, Philosophy Department; Climate and Diversity Liaison (2025-26)
Fiction in the International Relations Classroom: Ivo Andric’s The Bridge on the Drina
- Jennifer A. Lind, Open Enrollment Instructor
Popular Music and the History of American Democracy
- Nora Titone, Historian, Author of the critically acclaimed Civil War history My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry of Edwin and John Wilkes Booth; Senior Director of Programming and Undergraduate Research
How Writing Supports Discernment
- David Chrisinger, Executive Director, Harris Writing Workshop
11:30 AM: Break
12:00 PM: Lunch Plenary Exploring The Republic of Love: Opera and Political Freedom
- Martha C. Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor
- Moderated by: Constance Filling, Chief Learning Officer, Association of American Medical Colleges; LSI Fellow
World-renowned philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum draws on her new book The Republic of Love to explore how opera, from Mozart to Verdi to contemporary composers, has shaped our understanding of dignity, love, and freedom, and what it can teach us about the emotional foundations of political life.
1:15 PM: Break and mingling
1:30 PM: Breakout Sessions:
The Declaration of Independence at 250
- Noah Chafets, Cyril O. Houle Chair of the Basic Program
- Jacqueline Victor, Basic Program Instructor
The 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was inspired by the Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jefferson – the primary author of the Declaration of Independence – consulted on the drafting of the French Declaration. The two documents share a good deal of language and structure, which makes their differences all the more informative. We will examine these texts carefully alongside one another, with the expectation that close reading can help us discover nuances that would otherwise elude us and see each Declaration as if for the first time.
The Declaration of Sentiments
- Moira O’Shea, Basic Program Instructor
Written seventy-two years after the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Sentiments echoes the language and structure of the earlier document while asserting that the natural rights of women are equal to those of men. Reading these documents together creates a space to question the efficacy of these two calls for independence and equality, what they are in fact asking for, who is included and excluded from these documents, and how they might shed light on our current day.
Frederick Douglass’ “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?”
- Michael Weinman, Basic Program Instructor
In “What to a slave is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass raises many of the questions regarding the complicated legacies of the American founding that we still confront today. None of these questions is more pressing than the most basic: how could an American revolution justified in the “self-evident truth” that “all men were created equal” also bring about a political-economic system that featured chattel slavery?
A Neglected Black Founder on Taking the Declaration Seriously
- Kendall Sharp, Sheffield Family Distinguished Instructor in the Basic Program; Lecturer, Master of Liberal Arts Program
Six months after the Declaration of Independence was dated, freedman Prince Hall petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for the freedom of seven enslaved men on the basis of the values announced in the earlier document. In this breakout group we will read closely and discuss both the Declaration and Prince Hall’s petition as an interpretation and response to it.
2:30 PM: Break and mingling
3:00 PM: Liberal Arts and the Examined Life
- Roosevelt Montás, John and Margaret Bard Professor in Liberal Education and Civic Life, Bard College, and Executive Director of the Chang Chavkin Center for Liberal Education and Civic Life
- Moderated by: Noah Chafets, Cyril O. Houle Chair of the Basic Program
Roosevelt Montás, author of Rescuing Socrates, reflects on his own experience to make the case for liberal arts education—and why the humanities are more vital than ever in a world that increasingly questions their value.
4:15 PM: Reception and Celebration of Mitova Distinguished Instructorship
Join us as we raise a glass to the inaugural instructor appointed to the Katia Mitova Distinguished Instructorship of the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults.
5:30 PM: (OPTIONAL) Dinner Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Basic Program
