This debate features two articulate law professors and former government officials with very different political perspectives: Professor John Yoo, Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, a Republican, former deputy assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush Administration, former general counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has served in all three branches of national government, and who is a regular commentator on FoxNews; and Harry Litman, the senior legal affairs columnist for the Opinion page at the Los Angeles Times; the host and creator of the Talking Feds podcast; a regular commentator on MSNBC, CNN, and CBS News; a Democrat who advised the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and (post-election) the Obama-Biden campaign in 2008; and a former U.S. Attorney and deputy assistant attorney general.This matchup promises an animated debate on a range of current political, legal, and constitutional issues facing the nation yet distinctive for its civility and civil engagement of the ideas embodied in the parties' differing perspectives. This event is free and open to the public. Originally published at constudies.nd.edu.

As part of the Keough-Naughton Institute's fall 2024 speaker series, Professor Peter Shirlow will deliver a lecture titled “The Failings of Irish Republicans and the National Question in Ireland.” Lecture Abstract This lecture will explore how, despite post-Brexit Referendum predictions of a united Ireland by as early as 2021, there has been, at best, limited growth in recorded support for ending partition between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Growth of Northern Ireland’s Catholic population has been less dramatic than predicted and the region now has the fastest growing economy in the UK. Peter Shirlow asserts that in this context, pro-united Ireland campaigns and republican activism, especially via civic fora and social media, have failed to significantly close the gap between Irish unity and pro-union proponents. In this lecture, Shirlow will consider how Irish Republican arguments for unity contain internal contractions: underscoring the economic successes of the South while also indicating its structural deficiencies, or pointing to socio-economic deficiencies of Northern Ireland even while Republicans are co-authors of its new found economic growth. Ultimately, Shirlow argues, the shortcomings of Irish republicanism lie in its inability to read and understand the new sociology of Northern Ireland– particularly temporal and social shifts that potentially render the inevitability thesis of Irish unification inconsistent, if not ineffective, in the short to medium term. Speaker Biography Professor Peter Shirlow (FaCSS) is the director at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. He was formerly the deputy director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, QUB. He is the independent chair of the Executive Office's Employers' Guidance on Recruiting People with Conflict-Related Convictions Working Group and a board member of the mental health charity Threshold. He is a visiting research professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. He sits on the editorial boards of Irish Political Studies and International Planning Studies. Professor Shirlow has undertaken conflict transformation work in Northern Ireland and has used that knowledge in exchanges with governments, former combatants and NGOs in the former Yugoslavia, Moldova, Bahrain and Iraq. He has also presented talks to members of the US Senate and House of Representatives and is a regular media contributor. Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.

Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times–bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won The Story Prize, the ABA Indies’ Choice Award, France’s Grand Prix de l’Héroïne, and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into 36 languages. She lives in Gainesville, Florida. Co-sponsors: Creative Writing Program, Gender Studies Program, Program of Liberal Studies — Join the Center for Social Concerns on Friday afternoons of home football weekends for MVP Fridays: lectures by national leaders, journalists, and writers on questions of meaning, values, and purpose.Learn more

The NDSO is joined by local musical treasure Jennet Ingle for Ruth Gipps’ “Oboe Concerto,” composed in 1941 and recently edited for performance in its full orchestral version. Felix Mendelssohn’s revered “Italian” Symphony completes the program. For tickets, call 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu. Originally published at music.nd.edu.

The NDSO is joined by local musical treasure Jennet Ingle for Ruth Gipps’ “Oboe Concerto,” composed in 1941 and recently edited for performance in its full orchestral version. Felix Mendelssohn’s revered “Italian” Symphony completes the program. For tickets, call 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu. Originally published at music.nd.edu.