WILL CRAWFORD | Reporter

Libertarian economist, author, and columnist Walter E. Williams will speak at Lindenwood Friday evening.

As part of the H.F. Langenberg Memorial Speaker Series presented by the Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise at Lindenwood, he will discuss the topic “Is the Constitution Still Relevant?” at 7 p.m. in the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts.

Tickets are free for any students, not just Lindenwood students, and for the public, general admission tickets are $20.

Williams, who is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from California State University-Los Angeles. He went on to receive his master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from the University of California-Los Angeles.

According to Williams’ website, he has appeared on many television and radio shows including top-rated “Face The Nation,” and “Nightline.”

Williams said he will talk about “the United States Constitution and the overall ignorance that Americans have about the Constitution,”

He said it is important for the public, especially college students, to know about the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Williams feels if members of the public don’t know what’s in the Constitution, they fall prey to people who want to take away liberties.

For example, he said, when Americans want to abolish the Electoral College, they fall prey to those who want a majority vote, because they don’t understand the Constitution.

Williams said students should read all of the Constitution and the Federalist Papers to learn why the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution the way they did.

Williams takes the stage in Scheidegger at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. to members of the community, staff, faculty, and students, and the program lasts until 8:30. Attendees can register at HammondInstitute.org.