Former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank will deliver the 2015 Weil Lecture on American Citizenship, hosted by the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, a part of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina. The free public talk, “Indispensability Abroad vs Effective Democratic Governance at Home,” will take place on September 24, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in Carroll Hall Auditorium, located at 114 East Cameron Avenue roughly across from the Carolina Inn.
The lecture will be followed by a signing of his latest book, “Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage.” The evening lecture will be preceded with a public question and answer session from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in the University Room of Hyde Hall. Susan King, Dean of the UNC School of Media and Journalism and John Kerr Distinguished Professor will facilitate the conversation.
About Barney Frank
Frank served as a US Congressman from 1981 to 2013 and as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2011. While in Congress, Frank worked to adjust America’s spending priorities, to reduce the deficit, and to protect funding for important quality-of-life needs at home. He was also a champion for the interests of the poor, the underprivileged, and the vulnerable, and he won reelection 16 times by double-digit margins.
As chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank was instrumental in crafting the short-term $700 billion rescue plan in response to the crisis and he then worked for the adoption of a sweeping set of financial regulations aimed at preventing a recurrence of the crisis. He was a key author of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the regulatory overhaul signed into law in July 2010. He also led passage of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, a measure that drew praise from editorial boards and consumer advocates.
In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, and in 2012 he married his longtime partner, becoming the nation’s first Congressman in a same-sex marriage while in office.
About the Weil Lecture
The biennial Weil Lecture at UNC seeks to widen discussion of issues and concerns in the United States. Founded in 1915 by brothers Henry and Solomon Weil of Goldsboro, the lecture has been given by speakers including presidents Taft and Carter, U.S. Senators J. William Fulbright, Nancy Kassebaum, and John Kerry, and First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Each succeeding Weil generation has continued a tradition of philanthropy and community involvement, leading in causes including women’s suffrage and civil rights and serving as UNC trustees. The Weil lecture is one of many contributions to the University by the Weil family.
The Institute for the Arts and Humanities serves as UNC’s faculty home for interdisciplinary conversation and collaboration. Its mission is to help the university recruit, refresh, develop, and retain a world-class faculty of scholars and teachers. At the heart of this mission is the affirmation of the crucial value of the arts and humanities to the life of the university and the world.