Ted McAllister to lecture at OC

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Ted McAllister, distinguished lecturer and author will speak at Oklahoma Christian University over the crisis of American public policy .

McAllister holds the Edward L. Gaylord Chair of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He is known for his focus on American intellectual history, American conservatism and liberalism, historical consciousness and the problem of authority in a democratic society.

“I think it will be a great experience for all of the OC students to come and see him,” senior Collin Schnakenberg said. “He will have a lot of things to say that will affect us personally as well as a nation.”

The topic McAllister will lecture on is “Social Justice and the Crisis of American Public Policy.”

According to McAllister, for the first couple of centuries of American history, there was a congruent political thought. American government and politics were based on a common idea of what was right and wrong; what issues were proper. However, McAllister argues, in the last century there has been a paradigm shift, resulting in a different form of social justice that is hostile to American public policy, and inconsistent with cultural, social and historical experiences.

McAllister suggests that from this shift comes the inability to come to a common meeting point and make changes in the government.

“I hope to get a better understanding of how the political sphere has changed from long ago in history to here and what we can do to change it in the future,” Schnakenberg said.

This lecture is an opportunity for students who think they may have an interest in pursuing a master’s degree in public policy to gain more insight, and also to narrow down their options within that field.

“Anyone with an interest in the contemporary political scene and serious discussion of it would enjoy this lecture,” Chair of Oklahoma Christian’s Department of History and Political Science John Maple said. “We’ve got it as a full-day of enrichment for those who are interested in politics and public policy in the broadest sense.”

McAllister has dedicated a full day to Oklahoma Christian. Aside from the public lectureship, he will speak in two classes, Contemporary Political Ideology and History of American Political Thought. On Monday evening, he will also appear at dinner for select students interested in pursuing political policy.

“I will be attending the lecture because, quite frankly, I would like to learn more about the current American political landscape,” junior Benjamin Hartman said. “Recently, it has seemed as though a miasma of confusion surrounds politics. In other words, although we argue Democrats vs. Republicans and conservatives vs. liberals, we are often unsure of what exactly these terms mean and what we are arguing about. Therefore, I am excited to hear Professor McAllister speak on ‘Social Justice and the Crisis of American Political Philosophy.”

McAllister graduated from Oklahoma Christian in 1983. He then continued his education at Claremont University with a master’s degree, followed by a doctorate in American Intellectual History from Vanderbilt University.

He has taught at Vanderbilt University, the University of the South, Hillsdale College and was a Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

“He’s an authority on politics and is going to make a cogent argument and provide interesting analysis to how the crises of fundamentally different political philosophies hinders government progress,” Maple said.

McAllister is the author of numerous books, including “Revolt Against Modernity: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Search for a Postliberal Order” and co-edited, with William McClay “Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America.” He served as the editor of the book series American Intellectual Culture and is working on a book about Walter Lippmann and the problem of authority in modern Liberalism.

“At minimum, I feel he should be able to clear away some small part of the confusion that is the current political situation,” Hartman said.

The free lecture begins at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 in the Adams Recital Hall. A question and answer session will follow the lecture.