Explore Our Past Events

Sept. 23-24, 2026 - The second annual Conference on Civic Thought, hosted by the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University, takes its bearings from a remarkable year. In 1776, within months of one another, there appeared Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the first volume of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and the Declaration of Independence. Together, these works frame enduring questions about rights, self-government, empire, commerce, and the conditions of a free people.

The 2026 conference featured:

• Keynote addresses by William Inboden, Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Texas-Austin, and Josiah Ober, the Constantine Mitsotakis Chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University,
• Plenary sessions by Thomas Howe and Kevin Vallier on post-liberalism, Brennan McDavid on Adam Smith, Michael Moses on the American West in film and novels as a representation of American civic thought, and Edward Watts on Gibbon's account of the fall of Rome,
• Panels on the thinkers and texts above, and
• A poster competition for undergraduate students.

Videos of the keynote speakers and plenaries will be available on our website soon!

Sept. 15, 2026. – The 2026 Constitution Day program at The Ohio State University featured Stephanie Barclay, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Co-Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, delivering a public lecture titled “The Future of the Religion Clauses at the Supreme Court.” 

The event explored how originalist interpretation of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses is reshaping the law of religious liberty—and what the Supreme Court’s emerging doctrinal frameworks mean for cases on the horizon. 

By connecting founding-era understandings of religious freedom to current and forthcoming legal controversies, the program encouraged students and community members alike to consider how the Court’s approach to the Religion Clauses influences governance, individual liberty, and the relationship between church and state in the twenty-first century.

Watch for a video of the conference coming soon!

September 10-11, 2026 – The Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society partnered with the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University to co-sponsor the upcoming Originalism and Criminal Justice Symposium, taking place in Fall 2026. 

This event brought together scholars, jurists, and experts to examine how originalist constitutional interpretation intersects with contemporary issues in criminal law and procedure.

250 Years of Freedom

July 30, 2026 - Each year the Ohio Classical and Liberal Arts K-12 Conference brings together school leaders, staff, and educators, as well as a variety of partners – including elected officials and thought leaders – for a full day of informative panels and discussions dedicated to strengthening classical and liberal arts education in Ohio. The conference is designed to support schools in delivering rich, tradition-inspired academic experience that cultivates virtue, knowledge of the Western tradition, and a lifelong love of learning.

In June 2026, the Salmon P. Chase Center offered three weeklong professional development experiences focused on the Declaration of Independence for civics, government, and history teachers across the country. These workshops coincided with the United StatesSemiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

April 30, 2026 – The Ohio Civics Centers Symposium brings together centers at Ohio universities that are dedicated to civic education. The symposium serves as a platform for these centers to collaborate, share research, and develop innovative approaches to fostering informed and engaged citizens.

April 15, 2026 – This event marks the publication of Rogue States: The Making of America’s Global War on Terror, a new book by Chase Center historian and assistant professor Dr. Matthew Frakes.

April 8, 2026 – Randy E. Barnett argues that the Declaration is part of our law in a foundational sense—an authoritative public act that announced the American theory of legitimate government, fixed the ends of political authority, and continues to supply legally relevant reasons for officials, even if it does not create a standalone cause of action. 

To illustrate this tradition in action, the lecture highlights how Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase invoked the Declaration as a young lawyer defending fugitive slaves in Ohio and later as the U.S. Senator from Ohio—representative of the Declaration’s widespread use by antislavery constitutionalists.

Feb. 19, 2026 – In today’s pluralistic and polarized era, what role should religion play in public life? Does faith strengthen civic society, or can it divide and constrain it? Sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Moritz College of Law, and the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society.

Monday, Feb. 16, 2026 – This talk argues that free speech serves the same function in civic life; it keeps power contestable by keeping criticism and dissent live options for ordinary people, even when the speech is unpopular or wrong. Thrasher argues that the threat today is not only censorship, but also the rising costs of dissent, which make silence the rational choice.

Wednesday, February 11, 2026 – Civil discourse requires learning and practice, and it is something we need to exercise every day. That’s why the Chase Center partnered with “Listen. Learn. Discuss.” for the first annual Buckeye Day of Dialogue. The goal of the day was to provide all Buckeyes an opportunity to engage one another in respectful and thought-provoking conversations that follow the Center for Ethics and Human Values’ 4Cs of Civil Discourse.

Friday and Saturday, January 30-31, 2026 – The Chase Center, Mershon Center, and History Department collaborated with the America 250-Ohio Commission to host a two-day conference focused on New Perspectives on the Northwest Ordinance. |  Full details.

January 20, 2026 – Dr. Danielle Allen proposes a new social contract for the future of higher education in the United States. 

November 13, 2025 – George Will speaks on conservatism and the American political tradition.

November 4, 2025 – Learn about the  “Parallel Visions and Conflicting Strategies” of President Abraham Lincoln and Salmon P. Chase at the Distinguished Lecture Series. 

Sponsors: Stanton Foundation, Ohio State Department of History, IDEA

October 23, 2025 – Robert P. George and Cornel West share the stage for the Chase Center Signature Debate.

Sponsors: Stanton Foundation, Ohio State Department of History, IDEA

October 28, 2025 – Vladimir Kogan discusses the context and content behind his new book, "No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids."

October 2025 – Best-selling author and Chase Center Professor Michael Clune talks about his novel "Pan," which was named one of the top books of 2025 by "Newsweek" and "Slate".

Sept. 26-27, 2025 – The Conference on Civic Thought and Leadership is a national annual scholarly conference on civic thought in higher education. This conference brings together scholars from multiple disciplines and across the nation to present their research on citizenship. The event features keynote addresses, plenary sessions, and concurrent panels, offering a dynamic platform for dialogue and collaboration across disciplines.

September 15, 2025 – Lucas Morel presents "Frederick Douglass, Free Speech, and ‘the Right of the Hearer’ "

August 1, 2025 – Convening Ohio classical education leaders and thought-leaders for a day of collaboration, dialogue, and inspiration. Sponsor: Stanton Foundation

April 25, 2025 – The Ohio Civics Centers Symposium brings together centers at universities across Ohio that are dedicated to civic education.

March 25, 2025 – A conversation between Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. and Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels on citizenship education at America’s leading research universities.

March 2025 – Walter Stahr, a Salmon Chase biographer, recounts Chase’s integral role fighting for the civil rights of all Americans.