Landiss Lecture presents New York Times columnist David French discussing 'The Prose of Public Persuasion'

Tuesday, April 16, 2024 5:15 PM

George Shinn Center

The Nashville community will have a unique opportunity to hear New York Times columnist, Iraqi War veteran and former constitutional litigator David A. French discuss “The Prose of Public Persuasion” at Lipscomb University’s annual Landiss Lecture on Tuesday, April 16. 

French is a distinguished visiting professor of public policy in Lipscomb University’s College of Leadership & Public Service. French, who holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Lipscomb, is an opinion columnist for the New York Times.

Prior to beginning his work with the New York Times last year, French was a senior editor at The Dispatch, which he helped launch, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He also served as a senior writer for National Review and as a senior fellow at the National Review Institute. The majority of French’s career was devoted to practice law, working in both commercial and constitutional litigation. In 2006, he joined the United States Army Reserve as a judge advocate general. He deployed to Iraq in 2007 and served in Diyala Province, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. During his legal career, he litigated in federal courts and served as a lecturer at Cornell Law School. He is a former president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. French is also a New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” A graduate of Harvard Law School, French lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy. They have three children.

The Landiss Lecture takes place in Lipscomb’s George Shinn Center with a reception at 5:15 p.m. followed by the lecture at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Register here. It is hosted by Lipscomb’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Department of English and Modern Languages presents the Landiss Lecture which is part of the university’s Presidential Signature Series. 

The Landiss Lecture was established by the late Morris P. Landiss, long-time chair of the Lipscomb University Department of English. He dreamed of bringing to the Lipscomb campus practicing writers, critics and scholars of national reputation to challenge the minds of those in Lipscomb’s academic community and in the community at-large. In the years since the series first presentation in 1985, the lectures have drawn notable speakers such as Bret Lott, George Garrett, Terry Kay, John Egerton, Wilma Dykeman, Robert Massie, Unita Blackwell, Sena Jeter Naslund, Emmy-winning film director Martin Doblmeier, R.T. “Rod” Smith, RoseAnn Benson, Constance Fulmer, Robert Hicks, Robert Morgan, Silas House and many others.