Holy Cross to Hold Lecture and Panel for Constitution Day

The College of the Holy Cross will celebrate Constitution Day with a series of events in September.  On Sept. 17, Aaron Herold, visiting assistant professor of political science, will give a talk titled “Religion in Constitutional Law and the Public Square.” It will be held at 4 p.m. in the Smith Laboratories, Room 154.  The event is free and open to the public.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, many Americans have debated the proper role of religious standards for morality in a constitutional system that guarantees freedom of religion.  Herold’s talk will dissect and navigate the complexities of this question.

Herold received his Ph.D. in political theory and international relations from the University of Texas at Austin.  His main areas of teaching interest are in the foundations of American Constitutionalism, religion and politics, and Constitutional law among others.  His research includes religion and liberal democracy, the problem of statesmanship in modern political life, and early modern liberal political thought and its critics.  He is the recipient of the Earhart Graduate Fellowship and is a Thomas Jefferson Fellow and has contributed to the Political Research Quarterly as well as The Review of Politics.

In addition, Holy Cross and Assumption College will present two “Madison Scholars for Constitution Day” panel discussions.  Holy Cross and Assumption College have joined together to present three of the nation’s most preeminent Madison Scholars: Colleen Sheehan, professor of political science and director of The Matthew J. Ryan Center at Villanova University; Greg Weiner, assistant professor of political science at Assumption College; and Jeremy Bailey, associate professor of political science at the University of Houston.

Colleen Sheehan received her Ph.D. in political philosophy and American government from Claremont University in 1986.  She is the author of “James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government” (Cambridge University Press, 2009).  Greg Weiner received his Ph.D. in political theory from Georgetown University in 2010.  He is the author of “Madison’s Metronome: The Constitution, Majority Rule and the Tempo of American Politics” (University Press of Kansas, 2012).  Jeremy Bailey received his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College in 2003.  He is the author of the forthcoming book “James Madison and Constitutional Imperfection,” expected in Sept. 2015.

The first event will be held on Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. in the Levis Browsing Room, Dinand Library, at Holy Cross. The conversation with the panelists is titled “What Does Public Opinion Have to do with the Constitution?  Thoughts on Madison.”  After, there will be responses by Holy Cross political science faculty: professor David Schafer, professor Donald Brand, and Charles Carroll Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Carly Herold.

The second event, on Sept. 25 at 4 p.m., at Assumption College in Kennedy, Room 112, the three panelists will take part in “Saving Majority Rule from Itself?  A Roundtable on James Madison’s Views on the Bill of Rights and Judicial Review."

Both events are free and open to the public and sponsored by the Jack Miller Center, Assumption College’s president’s office and political science department,  and the Charles Carroll Program at Holy Cross.