OU Announces 2023-24 Presidential Speakers Series to feature Cornel West, Paul Ryan

NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — The University of Oklahoma has announced its lineup for the 2023-24 Presidential Speakers Series dinners on campus at the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

The fall 2023 event will feature a point/counterpoint discussion with professors Robert P. George of Princeton University and Cornel West of Union Theological Seminary, while the spring 2023 event will feature former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan.

On August 24, OU history professor Anne Hyde will moderate the 'Saving America: Conflicting Views in Civil Dialogue' discussion between George and West. While George identifies politically with the right and West with the left, the two professors formed a close friendship despite their ideological differences while teaching at Princeton together in the '90s.

George is currently the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, and has been a frequent visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary, and has a passion for speaking with a wide public audience to keep the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. alive. Previously, he was professor of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and professor emeritus at Princeton University.

For the spring 2024 event, Paul Ryan will be presenting 'The State of American Politics' on March 27. Ryan served as the 54th speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019.

Limited seating for the fall 2023 event is available to OU students, faculty, staff and alumni by reservation. Overflow seating will be available to the public. For reservations, more information and accommodations, email specialevents@ou.edu or call (405) 325-1701. More information on the spring 2024 event will be released by the university at a later date.