Center for Freedom and Western Civilization Updates and Archive

Prof. Kraynak and I share the very sad news that our beloved Center colleague and friend, Prof. Alexander (Sasha) Nakhimovsky, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus, passed away on June 27. Prof. Nakhimovsky led the Forum on Security and Democracy and made a substantial contribution to the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization for many years. We will miss his generosity, engagement, intellectual vivacity, energy, and enduring enthusiasm for conversations about the issues that matter most to us.

Two academic freedom experts, Keith Whittington of Yale Law School and Ulrich Baer of New York University, made their cases for the role and scope of free speech in higher education during Colgate’s 2024 Constitution Day Debate: “‘Snowflakes,’ Truth, and the Future of Academic Freedom” Sept. 12. The annual debate celebrating Constitution Day was sponsored by the Forum on Constitutional Government and the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization. 

Free speech on campus will be the focus of this fall’s 2024 Constitution Day Debate.

The Center for Freedom and Civilization hosted three speakers during the spring 2024 semester, with lectures and discussions focused on the Israel-Gaza war with Yair Rosenberg, staff writer at “The Atlantic”; the Northern Ireland Protocol with Tony Connelly, Europe editor for RTÉ News and Current Affairs; and Maxim D. Shrayer, bilingual author and professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies at Boston College, read from his new memoir, “Immigrant Baggage” during the event.

On April 22, 2024, the Center celebrated the 2024 recipients of the James Madison Summer Fellowship over a lively dinner at the Colgate Inn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promoted fascism for decades, most recently harnessing the influence of social media aimed at young Russians, according to Ian Garner, a historian and expert in Russian war propaganda.

Michael Hanratty ’24 of Barkhamsted, Conn. is the 2024 recipient of the Brian Horey ’82 Civic Freedom Award. Hanratty is the Class of 2024 valedictorian, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, majoring in economics and political science and receiving high honors in political science. As a 2023 James Madison Fellow his research project was titled “The Development of the Supreme Court’s Power of Judicial Review” and Stanley Brubaker, professor of political science, was his faculty sponsor.

Michael Bazyler, professor of law at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law, and Lindsey Hagen, a JD student at the same institution, discussed how the Nuremberg trials can serve as a model for seeking justice for genocide during the Ukraine War at a lecture and discussion on Oct. 23. “Preserving the Post WWII Legal Order: The Necessity of Delivering Nuremberg-style Justice to Ukraine War Perpetrators” was hosted by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization and co-sponsored by the Forum on the Study of Cultural Heritage and the Russian and Eurasian Studies Program.

Robert Eccles, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Anson Frericks, co-founder and president at Strive Asset Management, debated the positive and negative impacts of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Policies on American corporate profits, during the “Has American Capitalism Gone Woke?” debate Oct. 18, sponsored by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization.

Colgate’s Constitution Day Debate on Sept. 13 focused on the constitutionality of the administrative state. Debate moderator and Professor of Political Science Stanley Brubaker praised the speakers — Gary Lawson, Philip S. Beck Professor of law at Boston University, and Julian Davis Mortenson, James G. Phillipp Professor of law at the University of Michigan — for showing the audience how to debate while maintaining humor and friendship.