The Director’s Corner

The Ashbrook Center is a great place to work. In addition to the planning of seminars, speakers programs, publications and student-related activities, each day presents the opportunity for a free exchange of ideas and opinions that often result in new projects.

A lunchtime opinion, that the Clinton Administration was distorting the realism of the Reagan Presidency, was responsible for our latest publication, Defending the Reagan Legacy: A Rejection of Revisionist History. Written by Dr. Mickey Craig, Associate Professor of Political Science at Hillsdale College, the publication rejects the revisionist assertion that the ’80s was a decade of failure, and confirms the dynamic successes of the Reagan years, especially in foreign affairs and economic affairs. Craig also examines the Reagan success with regard to the Judiciary, as well as social issues. It is well worth reading.

Our Major Issues Lecture Series concludes December 1, 1993, as William F. Buckley, Jr. visits the Ashbrook Center for dinner. Tickets are a nominal $25.00 and can be reserved by the calling the Center at 289-5411. Our Spring series will concentrate on the issue of Health-Care Reform.

Last December we began soliciting memberships for Friends of the Ashbrook Center. The purpose of the membership was to allow us to elevate the level of programming without excluding the high school guests that have become such a part of our audience. Your response was tremendous, and we have had the most successful Series in our history.

Few universities can boast a line-up of Lady Margaret Thatcher, Dr. William Bennett, Bruce Herschensohn and William F. Buckley in a single semester, and few rural communities have such access to the world’s leadership on such an intimate basis.

I will never forget the looks on the faces of our Ashbrook Scholars as they sat having tea with Lady Margaret Thatcher on Friday afternoon. It was an experience they, too, will never forget. In December, we will continue our membership drive for Friends of the Ashbrook Center. Your participation has never been more important to our quest for excellence. Once again, I pledge a dynamic Major Issues Lecture Series for 1994.

There is a tendency to get so involved with the details of public policy that we often overlook the broader implications. Issues such as health-care, national service, family leave, etc. do have broader implications, particularly for those citizens that question the necessity for such a high level of government involvement in their lives. The Major Issues Lecture Series, On Principle and other publications, will continue to provide a forum for the conservative perspective on these and other important issues.