Chris Barker, assistant professor of political science at Southwestern College, will present a Constitution Day lecture on Monday, Sept. 18, at 11 a.m. in the Murray Reference Room located inside the Harold and Mary Ellen Deets Library.  There is no admission charge and the public is invited to attend.  

The title of the lecture is “Populism's Poison Pill?”

According to Barker, this talk takes the 1787 Constitution as its point of departure and travels quickly through time to enter into the present populist moment of protests, anxieties, and disagreement. He will examine populism as a challenge to representative democracy, one that mobilizes power in the streets rather than through the political process, and as an expression of political opinion and agency within a basically liberal polity. 

“How does the Constitution shape the type of citizen participation that occurs in the American public sphere?” Barker asks.  “Can the Constitution settle debates and decide questions such as whether protesters or counter-protesters in Charlottesville are right or wrong to speak or not to speak? If so, how?”

The event is held to recognize the signing of the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

After the talk, there will be time for questions concerning the constitutional implications of the events of Charlottesville and the meaning of the Constitution in 2017.