Columbus, Ohio – May 25, 2025 – The Stanton Foundation has generously awarded a gift of $3 million to the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society to support its mission of promoting freedom of speech and civic thought in American higher education. This gift will fund programs and initiatives aimed at fostering an academic community dedicated to civil debate and discussion.
The Chase Center will use the gift to launch several specific initiatives advancing civic thought, including an annual conference and signature debate, and an annual civics centers symposium – all of which will bring national-level thought leaders to campus. Support from the Stanton Foundation will also allow the Chase Center to engage scholars and students in its mission to foster civic thought through hiring a visiting scholar and post-doctoral fellows, graduate assistant fellows and undergraduate fellows, along with supporting the Center’s K-12 civic thought initiative.
The Chase Center at The Ohio State University was established by the State of Ohio in 2023 to research and teach the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society. “This extraordinary gift from the Stanton Foundation enhances the Chase Center’s capacity to promote a free speech culture that encourages robust-yet-civil debate and discussion,” said Lee J. Strang, the Center’s inaugural Executive Director.
The Stanton Foundation is dedicated to promoting the values of free speech and civic engagement. The programs it supports underscore the vital role of free speech in American citizenship education. “Stanton applauds the advancement of one of our core missions at a great land grant university,” said co-director Elisabeth Allison. The Chase Center is honored to advance this mission.