Event Recap | National Security Symposium

The SMU Tower Center held its eighth annual National Security Symposium titled, “National Defense: Budgets, Resources and Readiness,” featuring two panels each comprised of three experts and a moderator April 11. With the recent release of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and the budget for fiscal year 2018, the panelists had plenty to dissect in their presentations. Here’s what we learned from the discussions.

Center Spotlight | Michael Lusztig

For this month’s Center Spotlight we interviewed Tower Center Associate Michael Lusztig about his latest book, The Culturalist Challenge to Liberal Republicanism. In the book, Lusztig explores the risks multiculturalism poses to liberal democracy through examination of Mexican immigration to the United States and Islamic immigration to Europe. Lusztig is a professor of political science at SMU and received the Colin Powell Fellowship from the Tower Center to finish writing his book in 2017.

Scholar Spotlight | A Student’s Push to Make SMU’s Campus Stronger

scholar spotlight david shirzad
David Shirzad at a meeting with the Tower Scholars Program in Washington D.C.

HCM Tower Scholar and Student Body President David Shirzad has dedicated his time at SMU to making the school a better place. He’s been a Peruna handler, a member of the Mob (a group of high-spirited students guaranteed tickets to men’s basketball games), a student representative to the Board of Trustees and more. His latest mission is to give students more opportunities to have their voices heard. For this month’s Scholar Spotlight we talked to David about his time at SMU and what advice he has for younger and incoming scholars.