The Ryan Center has been able to foster a forum, the Liberty & Learning Symposia, for both Villanova undergraduate and graduate students to assemble and discuss questions of importance and interest.  The Symposia were initiated by graduate students who sought to extend and broaden their classroom instruction to a more informal setting.  These gatherings provided a safe environment for the open and free exchange of ideas.  Students have begun to gather to ask questions about freedom, liberal education, morality, soft despotism, and other topics.  The meetings generally consist of a Ryan Faculty Associate briefly introducing a topic and often coupling their presentation with a short reading.  Examples of texts include Aristotles’ Politics, The Federalist Papers, and Democracy in America.  

Fall 2012

Dr. Marylu Hill
"Oscar Wilde and Plato"
November 27, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Peter Busch
"Politics for Pilgrims: Augustinian Citizenship in a Liberal Democracy"
October 23, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Rafe Major
"Shakespeare"
October 2, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Lowell Gustafson
"Is Man Political By Nature"
September 25, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Spring 2012

Father Allen Fitzgerald
"St. Augustine"
April 17, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. David Schindler
"Problems with Liberal Education"
March 27, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Professor Andy Bove
"Berlin's and Constant's Taxonomies of Liberty"
February 21, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Matthew Oberrider
"Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Virtue"
Janurary 31, 2012, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Fall 2011

Dr. Jeanne Schindler
"Contemporary Jurisprudence "
November 30, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Leva Zake
"Nationalism and Patriotism"
November 16, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Professor Andy Bove
"Positive and Negative Freedom"
November 9, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Paul Kerry
"Religion and the Enlightenment"
November 2, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Peter Busch
"Partisanship: Madison and Aristotle"
October 26, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Professor Jonh-Paul Spiro
"Francis Bacon, Science, and Philosophy"
October 19, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Discussion of the film, "Glory"
October 5, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Mark Shiffman
"Ancient and Modern Skepticism?"
September 28, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

"Political Correctness"
September 21, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Matthew Oberrider
"What is Liberal Education?"
September 14, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center

Dr. Brian Satterfield
"What is Freedom?"
September 7, 2011, 7:30 PM, The Ryan Center