W&L Podcast Releases New Episode Featuring Brian Murchison "W&L After Class: The Lifelong Learning Podcast" invites listeners to join conversations with W&L's expert faculty, giving them a walk down the Colonnade from the comfort of their home.

By Erica Turman
February 12, 2021

Washington and Lee University invites listeners to tune into a new episode of “W&L After Class: The Lifelong Learning Podcast” featuring Brian Murchison, director of the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics at Washington and Lee University and Rowe Professor of Law at the W&L School of Law. In the first episode of season two, Murchison examines the First Amendment and interprets the Founding Fathers’ intentions in light of today’s application of the law.

“So, this is the idea of speech and press as, I don’t know, facilitating one’s humanity, facilitating one’s being, facilitating one’s… we call it self-realization,” Murchison said. “That’s one of the main values that is associated with the First Amendment. And [Supreme Court Justice Louis] Brandeis went on to talk about two other values. One is the value of self-governance… and the third one he talks about is the role of speech and press in the broader search for truth.”

Listen to the full episode here.

The “After Class” podcast series, which is hosted by Ruth Candler, assistant director of Lifelong Learning, began in spring 2020. Every episode invites listeners to join conversations with W&L’s expert faculty, giving them a walk down the Colonnade from the comfort of their home. Listeners hear from W&L faculty members about topics they know and love, meet new professors and learn about their research. Some of the topics include poetry, beer, tea, witches, poverty, politics and art.

To date, the series includes 12 episodes with many more planned for the future. Conversations from the first season include chats with faculty members Sybil Price Nelson (mathematics), Elliott King (art history), Mark Rush (politics, international education), Mikki Brock (history), Howard Pickett (director of the Shepherd Program), Julie Woodzicka and Karla Murdock (cognitive and behavioral science), Janet Ikeda (Japanese), Bill Hamilton (biology), Johanna Bond (law school) and Marc Conner, former provost and professor of English.

The community is invited to listen to archived episodes for free here or wherever you listen to podcasts (e.g., iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher). Recent episodes include:

• When You’re a Statistical Improbability with Assistant Professor of Mathematics Sybil Prince Nelson (‘01)
• Let’s Get Real… About Surrealism with Associate Profess of Art History Elliott King
• Not to Get Political But… with the Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law Mark Rush
• Which Witch? with Associate Professor of History Mikki Brock
• Real Opportunity for All with Director of the Shepherd Program, Assistant Professor of Ethics and Poverty Studies and Adjunct Professor of Law Howard Pickett
• Your Implicit Bias is Showing… with the Abigail Grigsby Urquhart Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science Julie Woodzicka

“After Class” is a collaboration of W&L’s Office of Lifelong Learning, Alumni Engagement and University Communications.