A Conversation 250 Years in the Making
PPE Students Discuss the Declaration of Independence
In a year that marks the 250th anniversary of America's founding document, 15 undergraduates from five Southern California universities spent a Saturday in deep conversation about the ideas that shaped a nation — and continue to challenge it.
The University of San Diego's Center for Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy hosted its 6th Annual SoCal Undergraduate PPE Colloquium on February 28, bringing together students from Claremont McKenna College, Pomona College, Chapman University, UC San Diego and USD for a day of seminar-style discussion built around a single theme: the Declaration of Independence.
"This colloquium pushed me to ask better questions and find connection between authors across space and time that I would not have previously thought went together."
Each year, the colloquium selects a new theme and distributes a reader of primary and secondary sources in advance. This year's 230-page reader ranged from John Locke's Second Treatise of Government and Cato's Letters to Frederick Douglass's "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?", Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Seneca Falls Declaration and contemporary scholarship by Danielle Allen, Harry Jaffa and William Galston. Five sessions guided students from the Declaration's text through its philosophical precursors, the fierce debate it provoked in England, and its progressive legacies of freedom and equality.
USD faculty members, including Assistant Professors of Philosophy Kobi Finestone, PhD, and Jennifer Tillman, PhD, and Assistant Professors of Political Science and International Relations Abigail Stepnitz, PhD, and Timothy McCarty, PhD, guided students through discussions in which they were encouraged to test new ideas, challenge one another and sit with questions they had not yet resolved.
"There is really no better time to be talking about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than right now, and there was no better group to do it with," says Justine Simons, a USD political science and sociology major. "This colloquium pushed me to ask better questions and find connection between authors across space and time that I would not have previously thought went together."
Emma Nguyen, a student from Chapman University, echoed that sense of urgency. "During the 2026 PPE Colloquium, I had the privilege to not only converse, but also to think critically, challenge my ideas and engage with peers and knowledgeable professors," she says. "I believe that this experience has further prepared me to face the world full of political turmoil because I was constantly practicing how to better communicate and articulate my thoughts and opinions."
The SoCal Undergraduate PPE Colloquium is organized by USD's Philosophy, Politics and Economics program and sponsored by the university's Center for Ethics, Economics and Public Policy. The PPE program is an interdisciplinary minor that prepares students for careers in law, public policy, journalism and government. The colloquium is one of several initiatives through which the program connects students across institutional boundaries, building a regional community of young scholars committed to rigorous, open-minded inquiry into the questions that matter most.