Washington University brings excellent speakers to campus every year to share ideas and new perspectives with students and the community. Here are a few of the speakers from the past year.
To keep up-to-date on speakers on campus be sure to check out the Assembly Series page and like the Assembly Series on Facebook.
“Running for president was extraordinary. You get to meet the American people across the country and understand what it is that makes us such a unique and powerful country. The greatness of America is not just our scale and our economic might and our military might. It is also our goodness. … This is a nation that is great and good.”
— Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaking on campus Feb. 27, 2017
“An institution is like an old garment: It has acquired the shape of those who tend to wear it, such that it is easier to wear if you have that shape.”
— Sara Ahmed, a feminist writer and scholar, speaking Oct. 20, 2017
“Free speech, I would argue, is the liberty that makes all other liberties possible within the constitution.”
— National Review Institute Senior Fellow David French speaking on campus Oct. 11, 2017
(see the video on the Show Me Institute website)
“I passionately support any vulnerable community in this nation. I stand with them; I lend them my voice.”
— Khizr Khan, a gold-star father and speaker at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, speaking Nov. 3, 2017, on a panel on Islamaphobia
“Climate change is not an environmental issue … We care about polar bears; we care about rainforests. But it’s really a humanitarian issue. It’s an issue that climate change impacts fall disproportionately on the poor.”
— Paleoclimatologist Bronwen Konecky speaking at an Assembly Series panel on climate change led by “Science Friday” host Ira Flatow, Sept. 18, 2017