During the Spring 2025 semester, Stetson will explore timely and pressing topics through a series of events titled Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series.

The events, open to all students, faculty and staff, include speakers, panel discussions and civil dialogues. As with all of the events, students who attend receive Cultural Credit.

Sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Society, Debating American Global Leadership features Paul D. Miller, PhD, a scholar and public servant with a focus on international affairs, political theory and American foreign policy. He is a professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University, where he co-chairs the Global Politics and Security concentration in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program. (See below for a full list of events.)

“We want to be an institution that students look at as the place where they can learn how to have difficult conversations in a civil manner. That’s really important to Stetson,” said John Downey, PhD, vice president of Campus Life and Student Success.

Recent affirmations of the university’s formal commitment to free expression can be traced back to spring 2019, when faculty and staff from across Stetson — in DeLand and at the College of Law in Gulfport — drafted a statement of principles of free expression, which was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees.

“Since that time,” explained Provost Elizabeth Skomp, PhD, “as academic freedom and freedom of expression have become especially contentious on college and university campuses, Stetson has been recognized for our unwavering commitment to civil discourse and free expression.”

Last July President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, joined 70 other college presidents of diverse institutions nationwide to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens, as well as to uphold free expression on campus. The commitments were made through College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a consortium designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.

Further, Stetson last summer participated by invitation in the inaugural Academic Freedom Institute at the University of Chicago, where universities were tasked with identifying their institutional structures for academic freedom and developing ongoing plans for embracing both free speech and inclusive excellence.

Those activities make the timing this spring semester especially appropriate for the series, Skomp said, commenting, “There is no time like the present to reaffirm our commitment. We’ve been planning this programming since last summer.”

Downey points to collaborations that promise to bring insight and thoughtful discussion to the campus. Among the partners are Stetson’s Center for Community Engagement and the Alexander Hamilton Society, a student organization affiliated with the national nonpartisan, not-for-profit national organization that seeks to identify, educate and launch young men and women into foreign policy and national security careers.

Concluded Downey: “I expect this series to be a  bit provocative, but also enjoyable for all participants.”

Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series

Promoting Democratic Values in the United States and Abroad
Thursday, April 10
6-7 p.m.
Rinker Welcome Center

Sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Society, this event will feature Ambassador Kelley Currie, currently a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, with a joint affiliation to the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Freedom and Prosperity Center. Currie is a founding partner of Kilo Alpha Strategies, a boutique geopolitical advisory firm, and serves on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and the advisory boards of Spirit of America, the Vandenberg Coalition and the Global Taiwan Institute.

See the Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series website.