KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Focusing on topics from filibusters to foreign policy, 13 nationally recognized scholars will examine the changing U.S. Senate, including the role of elected members, political parties and Senate procedures, at a conference later this month at the Dole Institute of Politics.

The Dole Institute and the Department of Political Science will host “Changing the ‘Slow Institution’: The U.S. Senate, 1960-2010” on Thursday, March 25, and Friday, March 26. The conference is free and open to the public.

James Lindsay, senior vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, will deliver the keynote address titled “The Senate and Foreign Policy” at noon March 26.

The conference consists of three sessions.

— “The Senate (1960) and its Members” will feature Erik Schickler from the University of California-Berkeley, Alan Abramowitz from Emory University and Burdett Loomis, professor of political science at KU, and will run from 4:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. March 25.

— “Parties and Procedure” will feature Barbara Sinclair, University of California-Los Angeles; Steve Smith, Washington University; and Sarah Binder, Brookings Institution and George Washington University, and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. March 26.

— “Policies, Nominations, and Looking to the Future” will feature Bruce Oppenheimer, Vanderbilt University; Frances Lee, University of Maryland; and David Rohde, Duke University, and will run from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. March 26.

“This is the most distinguished set of legislative scholars ever to take part in a KU program,” said Loomis, organizer of the conference. “Given current controversies over the filibuster and obstructionism in the Senate, I’m especially eager what professors Smith, Sinclair and Binder will have to say about Senate procedures, especially given that Greg Koger from Miami University, another filibuster expert, will be chairing their panel.”

“Changing the ‘Slow Institution’: The U.S. Senate, 1960-2010” is made possible with support from the Kansas Humanities Council.

The event is the last in the Dole Institute’s 2010 Presidential Lecture Series “Bob Dole: 50 Years of Leadership and Bipartisanship,” commemorating the 50th anniversary of Dole’s election to Congress. The annual Presidential Lecture Series is the signature event at the Dole Institute. Each year, the Dole Institute presents a series of lectures focusing exclusively on an aspect of the U.S. presidency, present and past, including presidential campaigns.