Frederick M. Lawrence

Phi Beta Kappa secretary & CEO, preeminent authority on the First Amendment

James P. Elder Lecture

Thursday, April 3, 2025, 6:30 p.m.
Whitley Auditorium

An accomplished scholar, teacher and attorney, Frederick Lawrence is one of the nation’s leading experts on civil rights, free expression and bias crimes. A distinguished lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center, he previously served as president of Brandeis University, dean of the George Washington University Law School and visiting professor and senior research scholar at Yale Law School.

He is the author of “Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law,” a book that examined bias-motivated violence and the laws governing how that violence is punished in the United States. He is an opinion contributor to The Hill and U.S. News & World Report, and frequently contributes opinion pieces to Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Observer, The New York Daily News and The Huffington Post.

As secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, he has focused on advocacy for the arts, humanities and sciences, championing free expression, free inquiry and academic freedom. The nation’s first and most prestigious honor society, Phi Beta Kappa has more than 290 chapters, including Elon’s chapter, and nearly 50 alumni associations.

Admission: $15 or Elon ID. Tickets will be available March 11 at ElonTickets.com.