Second Annual Chancellor's Video Club (November 1, 2023)

Dear Colleagues and Students, 

Last year, I launched The Chancellor's Video Club as one way for our community to come together and explore interesting and provocative concepts and perspectives. 
 
Our first video club selection was the legendary debate between James Baldwin and William F Buckley.  The event was well attended and engendered lively and spirited conversation.
 
For many, a video format is a fun and entertaining mode with which to engage new ideas. This year’s selection is a California Commonwealth Club Conversation with Francis Fukuyama: Liberalism and Its Discontents.
 
Fukuyama, a Senior Fellow at Stanford and a leading public intellectual, has written on many important topics, most notable among his works is  “The End of History and the Last Man.”  
 
The title of this video conversation is not what you might think. The Commonwealth Club conversation centers on his eponymous book where Fukuyama takes a capacious and historic view of liberalism.  He proffers that classical liberalism is being threatened from the right by neoliberal economics and from the left by identity politics.  In a review of his recent book, The New Yorker stated that “Fukuyama has been admirably open-minded throughout his career, striding down alleys of the twenty-first century where he was sure to have his pockets emptied by current events.” So it is not surprising that “Fukuyama is clearly flummoxed by the scale at which these threats have escalated.” 
 
At our video club event, we will discuss the trajectory of this important intellectual and cultural framework, liberalism, and its relevance to our collective future.  Information on the date and location will be forthcoming. You can watch the conversation on your own and/or join us for a public viewing just prior to the discussion. I encourage you to watch the video before the holidays as it will provide fertile material for stimulating dinner table conversations.
 
This will be a great way to enjoy each other's company as we discuss a major topic of current day interest.
 
Of course, we will provide delicious cider donuts.
 
I hope to see you there!

Domenico Grasso
Chancellor