‘I wanted to listen and learn’: USC hosts author Jonathan Turley at Open Dialogue event

Virat Agrawal showed up to the USC Davidson Conference Center on the University Park Campus on Tuesday afternoon to do something so simple, yet seemingly underappreciated — he came to listen.

A research scientist at the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service who earned both a master’s and a doctoral degree from the USC Price School of Public Policy, Agrawal wanted to hear from a viewpoint he said he hasn’t heard from very often on campus. That curiosity is what brought him to Tuesday’s fireside chat with attorney, legal scholar and free-speech advocate Jonathan Turley.

“I wanted to listen because I really value the institution of freedom of speech,” Agrawal said. “When we start putting guardrails on speech, that’s the point we stop that free flow of ideas.”

The Center for the Political Future at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the USC Open Dialogue Project and the USC chapter of the Heterodox Academy hosted Turley to talk about his latest book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. The book explores the American Revolution and French Revolution and how their origins and outcomes remain relevant today.

“This is really a book about revolution and the rage that leads people to revolt — it’s far easier to start a revolution than end one,” Turley said.

Specifically referencing the American Revolution, Turley said, “The whole point of this book is to try to identify the elements that brought us here today. The things that stabilized us at the beginning of this republic are the things that people want to remove.”

Morris Levy, USC professor of political science and international relations at USC Dornsife, moderated the discussion with Turley in front of a crowded conference center.

“On a more personal note, Professor Turley has been a constant presence over decades in the endless email debates that animate the assorted factions of Levy-family politics, and I am sure that my family is not alone,” Levy said. “To me, your career exemplifies how scholars can illuminate the public square, and you always give us something important to think about.”

Turley spoke about several key figures from the American and French revolutions and how they continue to inspire him. He also explored the lessons people can take from their actions and philosophies.

“You needed the righteous rage of [Thomas] Paine and you need that sort of highest logic of [James] Madison, and that combination created something very, very special,” Turley said.

Rage and the Republic: Opening dialogue

USC President Beong-Soo Kim has frequently cited open dialogue as one of his presidential priorities for fostering academic freedom, free expression and open discourse on campus. The USC Open Dialogue Project aims to encourage open-minded conversations, strengthening the art of respectful debate and constructive dialogue.

For USC Price Professor Neeraj Sood, director of the USC Open Dialogue Project, the opportunity to host Turley was one feat. The other was seeing a room full of people who wanted to hear him out.

“I was so glad to see the room full and people engaged,” Sood said. “This is exactly the type of event we need on campus, where there is an actual dialogue — not manufactured rage or debate, but actual dialogue.”