Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism hosts two fall lectures

By: Ryan Rogers

This fall, the Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism (SISC) hosted two successful lectures on Clemson’s campus, which were attended by students, professors and community members.

On October 17, the Institute hosted its bi-annual Pope Lecture, given by Michael Malice, author, podcaster and commentator. Over two hundred attendees heard Malice’s talk titled, “How the Soviets Kept a Nation in Chains,” which detailed what tactics the Soviet Communists used to seize and maintain their totalitarian dictatorship for decades. Malice drew on his travels and work to try to elucidate what it would be like to live in a country where human life was solely viewed as a means to an end. Watch Malice’s Pope Lecture here.

On November 7, the SISC invited Brendan McConville, a professor of history at Boston University, for a Lyceum Lecture titled, “Benjamin Franklin: British Subject, American Constitutionalist.” McConville’s research focuses on the intersection of politics and social developments in Early America and he has come to be regarded as one of America’s most knowledgeable historians on the life of Benjamin Franklin. McConville’s talk argued that despite
being a key player in the American founding, Franklin’s own writings suggest he was a loyal British subject who tried desperately to remain in the British empire almost up to the moment of independence.

Speaking about the Lyceum Lecture, Lyceum Scholar Nadav Sternheim said, “I really enjoyed Dr. McConville’s talk. I found it very enriching and informative. His passion for the study of Benjamin Franklin was very endearing and I learned a lot.” Watch Dr. McConville’s lecture here.

About the Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism

The Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism (SISC) is America’s premier university-based teaching and research center dedicated to exploring the moral, political, and economic foundations of capitalism. Founded in 2005 and housed within Clemson University’s Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, the independently financed Institute is educating a new generation of students about the moral requirements of a free society.