This Thursday, two professors will debate the idea of American interventionism in foreign affairs.
The event will be on Thursday night at 5:30, in Lane 124, and is open to both members and non-members of the Alexander Hamilton Society. Dinner from House of Barbecue will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.
Hillsdale College Professor of History Darryl Hart will be facing off with Gerard Alexander, politics professor from the University of Virginia and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
“I look forward to meeting Dr. Alexander,” Hart said. “He and I have emailed a little bit about this, and I’m always interested to hear how the audience, in this case I would assume largely students, respond to these matters.”
Hart taught the U.S. History of Foreign Policy course in the summer, and has done projects with Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think tank in Philadelphia.
Junior Pearce Pomerleau, president of the Alexander Hamilton Society Hillsdale chapter, explained that the society is a national organization whose purpose is to educate college students about issues impacting foreign policy, including in current events.
“For all of [Hillsdale’s] wonderful [foreign policy] curriculum, not much of that is focused on what’s going on right now, especially right now, out in the world,” Pomerleau said.
The debate will be structured into two 10-minute opening statements from each speaker, two rounds of five-minute rebuttals, with a question and answer segment to follow.
Freshman Callahan Stoub, a club board member, said the society brings life to campus.
“A lot of times when there are speakers, it’s more of a lecture, and people have been sitting in class for four hours that day already,” Stoub said. “But getting the two different opinions, and developing an idea, and looking for solutions, is what really makes debates exciting.”