It’s hardly news today when a college prioritizes wokeness and political correctness over genuine intellectual inquiry and a steadfast commitment to the free exchange of ideas. It is news, however, when a college takes aim at one of the few remaining parts of academia that is truly outstanding and emphatically worth preserving. Such is the case at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Arnold Palmer and Fred Rogers (of Mr. Rogers fame).
On April 7 through 9, St. Vincent’s Center for Political and Economic Thought, impressively built and shepherded over the past 22 years through the diligent efforts of Professor Brad Watson, hosted what was without exaggeration one of the finest academic conferences that one could hope to find anywhere in America.
The Center—whose advisory board includes (among others) Robbie George, Wilfred McClay, and Charles Kesler—invited nine speakers to its annual Culture and Policy Conference, which this year was entitled “Politics, Policy, and Panic: Governing in Times of Crisis.” Due to Covid restrictions, it was the first time that the usually annual Culture and Policy Conference had been hosted since 2019–and also the first time since Father Paul Taylor became St. Vincent College’s president. Taylor would quickly prove the aptness of the word “panic” in the conference’s title.
Read Full Article »