A consortium of experts in political science and authoritarian states spoke Friday in Toney Auditorium during a “teach-in” event organized by Mercer Associate Professor of English Elizabeth Harper.
All three events topped 120 attendees, according to data from the organizers, and the crowd was made up of students, faculty and alumni. The large turnout was unexpected, Harper said, with Professor and Chair of Political Science Chris Grant recording nearly 180 sign-ins at his lecture.
Harper started each lecture with prepared remarks that were partially written by the University administration, maintaining that the speakers were not speaking on behalf of Mercer or that they were not projecting any of their personal opinions onto the University.
The talks come at a time when social sciences in higher education across the country are being put under the microscope. Critics call out what they believe is left-wing indoctrination in the classroom while cries for academic freedom ring out from the other side.
Grant told the audience that he learned that morning a former colleague’s university was shuttering its history, philosophy and anthropology majors.
“When is there a more important time to understand the context of history,” Grant said. “When is there a more important time to study these fields than right now, when we’re on the precipice of potential change in the society that takes away the freedoms of others?”
At the end of each lecture, attendees had time to ask the presenters questions.
“I felt that students got to the heart of some of the ethical and political questions that faculty talked about,” Harper wrote in an email. “Students also approached each speaker after their talk to continue the conversation, which is the ultimate compliment to a professor.”
Gary Simson, a former dean and the Macon chair in law of Mercer’s School of Law, urged students to pay attention to what he described as constitutional violations around the country, citing the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minn. in January.
“Standing up for those values is something every American, regardless of your party affiliation, should feel as though it is right and a responsibility to do,” said Simson.
Mason Blanchard ‘28 used the open forum after Simson’s address to pose a question at the “Civil Liberties in Peril” lecture. But Blanchard, who said he went to the lecture Friday to hear viewpoints that oppose his own, was “severely disappointed by how Simson used more claims primarily rather than using evidence.”
Blanchard challenged the idea that people living in the country without legal permission were not entitled to due process. The 14th amendment, ratified in response to the Civil War, guarantees the government may not “deprive any person of life, liberty or property,” Simson pointed out.
“I view his perspective of Minneapolis, treating criminals equally, and the martyrism of Good and Pretti as emotional thinking rather than rational thinking,” Blanchard wrote in an email. “I worry that when too many people use emotional thinking, they are blinded and cannot make good decisions.”
After Grant’s talk, Bobby Shelton ‘27 asked how to extend tolerance towards views that he believes are “oppressive.”
Grant, whose lecture covered the rise of Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said that he tries to “give people the opportunity to opt out from what they may have said, which could be extremely offensive.”
The technique, he said, is important because not engaging in dialogue nor giving people the benefit of the doubt will not lower tensions.
Vaishnavi Jayakumar '28 said she hopes the lectures make students more open-minded and bring awareness to current issues.
“I hope from other students to see a greater willingness to accept that things are not okay in this country and that things need to change,” said Jayakumar.
Precious Clark '26 is a Law & Public Policy major with a minor in Political Science. She works at the circulation desk in Tarver Library and Auxiliary Services. When she is not writing for The Mercer Cluster, she enjoys reading, drawing and listening to Tame Impala.
Gabriel Kopp '26 is double majoring in Journalism and Law and Public Policy at Mercer University. He has written for The Cluster since he started at Mercer, and currently works as editor-in-chief. When he isn't completing a Washington Post crossword, he enjoys going for runs around Macon and reading The New York Times or the AJC while sipping coffee.
