Pluralism360 is a flagship initiative that rethinks how universities engage deep difference and prepare students for civic leadership in a divided society. At a moment when campuses are struggling to manage polarization through narrow appeals to civility or dialogue, Pluralism360 starts from a more demanding premise: value pluralism. It recognizes that societies—and universities—are shaped by enduring moral, religious, political, and cultural disagreements that cannot be wished away or resolved through debate alone. Rather than treating conflict as a failure, the initiative treats pluralism as a governing condition of modern life and asks how students can learn to exercise leadership and responsibility amid disagreement, without coercion, silencing, or retreat.
The program takes a genuinely 360-degree approach, embedding pluralism across the full student experience. Pluralism360 integrates classroom teaching, co-curricular programming, digital platforms, visiting scholars, and community partnerships to strengthen civil discourse and cultivate civic leadership skills grounded in judgment, restraint, and respect for disagreement. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the initiative represents a new model for pluralism in higher education—one that prepares students to engage conflict constructively and lead across difference in democratic and global contexts. You can read more about the program in Pittwire.
Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge and Freedom, October 19, 2026
Mark Pennington will draw on his book Foucault and Liberal Political Economy to explore how combining Foucauldian critical theory with Hayekian liberalism yields a "post-modern liberalism" for identifying and challenging un-freedom and oppressive "over-government" in contemporary societies.
Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, October 7, 2026
Stephanie Slade will be drawing on her recent book, Fusionism: Power, Knowledge and Freedom, to examine what it means to be a conservative in the American context and how the movement has changed over time.