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Vox journalist to address ‘Democracy: The End of the Beginning’ on Sept. 17 at URI

Zack Beauchamp to connect U.S. voting and politics to larger global trends at URI’s first Honors Colloquium lecture

Journalist Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox, starts the URI Honors Colloquium Sept. 17, discussing “Democracy: The End of the Beginning.” The series will take place at the Kingston Campus and online. (Photo Trevaughn Smith)

KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 9, 2024 – Journalist and author Zack Beauchamp will kick off the 2024 University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium Tuesday, Sept. 17, with “Democracy: The End of the Beginning.” A senior correspondent at Vox, Beauchamp covers global politics and ideology, with a focus on the crisis of global democracy and the rise of reactionary populist movements. His feature reporting has taken him around the world, including to Hungary and Israel for investigations supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Hosted by the University’s Honors Program, the 61st edition of URI’s premier lecture series will examine the challenges democracy faces while many students at the University, and elsewhere, are voting for the first time this fall.

“We are excited to welcome Zack Beauchamp,” says Marc Hutchison, chair of URI’s political science department. “His new book, The Reactionary Spirit, serves as an excellent launching point for the general theme of this year’s colloquium on the threats to democracy at home and abroad. This is a perilous time for democracy in the world right now. Our hope is that this year’s colloquium can raise awareness on the challenges facing the global community and how we, as a society, can engage in actions to strengthen our democracy while preserving our liberties and values.”

Beauchamp will speak at 7 p.m. at Edwards Hall on the Kingston Campus. This is the first lecture in the fall colloquium series, “Democracy in Peril,” which will also be streamed live (live stream links will be available on the day of each event on the colloquium website).

Beauchamp is the author of On The Right, a newsletter on the American conservative movement, and has appeared on a wide range of television and radio networks, including MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, BBC, CBC, ABC Australia, and Al Jazeera.

Beauchamp’s lecture will be followed on Sept. 24 by Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of the New York Times bestsellers How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority.

In addition to the speaker series, this year’s colloquium topic has drawn wide interest across campus at URI, with several complementary events, including a campus voter registration drive, a year-long humanities lecture series on “Sustaining Democracy,” a democracy-themed student innovation challenge, and an art exhibit on “The Politics of Personality” opening Oct. 1. Tickets are also now on sale for URI Theatre’s season-opening show, Machinal, by American playwright Sophie Treadwell—a powerful look at the subjugation of women in modern society. “Though one-hundred years old, Machinal is undeniably relevant to our 21st-century lives, when conflicts over women’s rights and bodily autonomy still remain hotly debated in contemporary social and political discourse,” says director Rachel Walshe.

Hosted by the University’s Honors Program, the URI Honors Colloquium is free and open to the public. Lectures will be held most Tuesday evenings, Sept. 17 through Nov. 12. To see recordings of last year’s speakers, or past colloquiums, visit the Honors Colloquium Archives.

Visit the Honors Colloquium site for details and click here to view a booklist of suggested reading to accompany this year’s colloquium. Register to get updates and reminders for this fall’s speakers here or by emailing urihonors@etal.uri.edu.