Loading Events

Fall 2021 Weil Lecture on American Citizenship

October 25 @ 5:30 pm6:30 pm- Free

Claire McCaskillClaire McCaskill will deliver the Fall 2021 Weil Lecture on American Citizenship on October 25, 2021, in a public livestream from Hill Hall.

The lecture will be free and open to the public via Zoom. Registration information to follow.

About Claire McCaskill
Claire McCaskill has spent her career as a prosecutor and elected official devoted to public service and earned a reputation in the U.S. Senate as a plain-spoken, independent, and effective champion for Missourians and all Americans.

Born and raised in the Show-Me state, McCaskill attended college and law school at the University of Missouri and began her career as an assistant prosecutor in Kansas City, specializing in prosecuting arsons and sex crimes.

McCaskill was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and made history when she became the first woman elected Jackson County prosecutor, where she launched one of the nation’s first drug courts and established a first-of-its-kind domestic violence unit. McCaskill continued raising the level of accountability in Missouri as the state’s Auditor and later took on her own party establishment, becoming the first person to ever defeat a sitting Missouri Governor in a primary election.

In 2006, McCaskill became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri – winning the seat once held by Harry Truman – and was resoundingly re-elected in 2012.

McCaskill’s background as a prosecutor and auditor deeply informed her work in the Senate, where she championed a six-year-long battle to rein in wasteful wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan and addressed tens of billions of wasted taxpayer dollars. She fought to curb sexual assault in the military and on college and university campuses, and led a historic, bipartisan investigation into online sex trafficking on the website Backpage and passed legislation to give law enforcement tools to prosecute websites like it.

McCaskill launched the largest congressional investigation into the business practices of opioid manufacturers and worked across the aisle to pass legislation to lower the price of prescription drugs. The daughter of a World War II veteran, she fought tirelessly for vets, including passing into law a bill to deliver decades-old relief to veterans who were exposed to mustard gas during World War II. Known for her work on behalf of consumers, McCaskill spearheaded efforts to improve consumer protections against robocalls, recalled vehicles, and sky-high cable bills. Always one to seek out the concerns of her constituents, McCaskill was known as the “town hall Senator,” after holding more than 50 town halls in one year in every corner of rural Missouri.

The Weil Lecture for American Citizenship is a biennial series sponsored by the Weil family since 1915. The first lecture was by former president William H. Taft after he finished his term but before he served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Other notable lecturers include Jim Huntsman, Jimmy Carter and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Institute for the Arts and Humanities has hosted the Weil Lecture since 2002.