Events

Weidenbaum Center Director and Professor of Political Science Andrew Reeves will discuss his book, "No Blank Check," on concerns over presidential executive power. Concerns about unaccountable executive power have featured recurrently in political debates from the American founding to today. For many, presidents’ use of unilateral power threatens American democracy. No Blank Check advances a new perspective: Instead of finding Americans apathetic towards how presidents exercise power, it shows the public is deeply concerned with core democratic values. Drawing on data from original surveys, innovative experiments, historical polls, and contexts outside the United States, the book highlights Americans’ skepticism towards presidential power. This skepticism results in a public that punishes unilaterally minded presidents and the policies they pursue. By departing from existing theories of presidential power which acknowledge only institutional constraints, this timely and revealing book demonstrates the public’s capacity to tame the unilateral impulses of even the most ambitious presidents. Ultimately, when it comes to exercising power, the public does not hand the president a blank check.

This policy lunch will cover the ongoing and unfolding situation in Israel, featuring Washington University experts: David Carter, Professor of Political Science; Krister Knapp, Teaching Professor and Minor Adviser in History, and Coordinator of Crisis & Conflict in Historical Perspective; and Carly Wayne, Assistant Professor of Political Science.

This meeting will focus on educational policy. Featured experts: Jerome E. Morris, The E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education (in conjunction with St. Louis Public Schools), and Director of the Center for Communally Bonded Research at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Ebony M. Duncan-Shippy, Assistant Professor of Education, and Affiliate Faculty, Sociology and the Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies, at Washington University in St. Louis.

Hilke Schellmann is an Emmy-award-winning journalism professor at New York University and a freelance reporter holding artificial intelligence accountable. Her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New York Times, and MIT Technology Review, among others. Her forthcoming book on artificial intelligence and the future of work will be released in January 2024.

Dr. Mark S. Wrighton is the James & Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus.

A short program will be followed by a brief presentation to this year's recipient of the Weidenbaum Center Award for Excellence, Chancellor Andrew S. Martin.