March 2023

The Jefferson Council invites you to hear George Will April 25th at the University of Virginia. The topic of his address could not be more timely: “The Bad Ideas Fueling Today’s Attack on The Best Idea — Free Speech.”Will began writing national syndicated columns in 1976, making him one of the longest-running pundits of our […]

The University of Virginia was the first stop for Douglas Murray, author of \”The War on the West,\” in a multi-campus speaking tour last month. He was accompanied by Marion Smith, president of the Common Sense Society, the lead organizer of the tour. (The Jefferson Council co-sponsored Murray\’s appearance at UVa.)It is illuminating to read

The University of Virginia was the first stop for Douglas Murray, author of \”The War on the West,\” in a multi-campus speaking tour last month. He was accompanied by Marion Smith, president of the Common Sense Society, the lead organizer of the tour. (The Jefferson Council co-sponsored Murray\’s appearance at UVa.)It is illuminating to read

by James A. BaconIn its March board meeting, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors addressed the topic of intellectual diversity. The unspoken assumption among some board members was that there is precious little diversity in the philosophical outlook of UVa\’s faculty, which skews heavily to the left, or the courses they teach. But Provost

by James A. BaconLast week an unidentified group distributed a pamphlet addressed to the Board of Visitors: \”We\’re Pissed Off. You Should Be Too.\” The tract argued that the governance structure at UVa is undemocratic, that faculty and student workers are underpaid, and that Board of Visitors member Bert Ellis (and Jefferson Council president) is

by James A. BaconLast week an unidentified group distributed a pamphlet addressed to the Board of Visitors: \”We\’re Pissed Off. You Should Be Too.\” The tract argued that the governance structure at UVa is undemocratic, that faculty and student workers are underpaid, and that Board of Visitors member Bert Ellis (and Jefferson Council president) is

by James A. BaconThe University of Virginia Board of Visitors did more than endorse free speech on university campuses Friday when it voted to adopt a Council of Presidents statement on free speech: It endorsed the principle of viewpoint diversity.In 2012 the Board had embraced a 2021 statement on free speech by a commission appointed

The next best thing to Douglas Murray live is Douglas Murray online! His brilliant defense of Thomas Jefferson and Western Civilization, co-sponsored by the Jefferson Council and the Common Sense Society at the University of Virginia, is now available.

by James A. BaconJim Ceaser runs the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia, which provides civic education on American ideas in politics and political economy. The courses are unusual these days in surveying the thought of mostly dead white men: from Aristotle and Montesquieu to Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville.