The Ohio State University at Lima turned to the nation’s founding documents Tuesday evening, hosting a public session on the formation of the U.S. Constitution in the Martha W. Farmer Theatre for the Performing Arts in Reed Hall, the Lima Reporter reported. The talk, titled “What the Founders Agreed Upon in the World of 1787,” featured Dr. Jason Opal, dean and director at Ohio State Mansfield, according to the Lima Reporter.
The session was part of Ohio State Lima’s Scarlet Sessions series, held throughout the year to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Lima Reporter reported. According to the announcement reported by the Lima Reporter, the series shares the expertise and creativity of Ohio State Lima faculty in accessible ways, both on campus and in the community, and Tuesday’s event was free and open to the public.
Opal is a historian specializing in early America and infectious diseases, the Lima Reporter reported. Before joining Ohio State, he taught at Colby College in Maine and at McGill University in Canada, where he served as chair of the Department of History and Classical Studies and as associate dean of graduate studies, according to the Lima Reporter.
His scholarly record framed the evening’s subject. Opal is the author or editor of three books and more than a dozen articles on the early United States, along with more than sixty editorials on topics ranging from constitutional law to measles, the Lima Reporter reported. That combination of constitutional history and public writing made him a fitting guide to the agreements the framers reached at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
The Lima session is one of several initiatives Ohio State Lima has planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and to foster community engagement through academic discussion, according to the announcement reported by the Lima Reporter. The Scarlet Sessions format brings university scholarship out of the classroom and into a public theatre setting, where residents can hear and question experts directly.
For Allen County residents, the series offers a year-long, no-cost way to take part in the national anniversary where they live, rather than traveling to a larger campus or a museum exhibition. Ohio State Lima said more information about the university and its public events is available through the campus, according to the Lima Reporter.
Ohio State Lima has not framed the Scarlet Sessions as a single lecture but as a continuing series, with additional sessions expected through the anniversary year. Residents interested in future sessions can watch the campus’s public event listings for the next dates in Reed Hall.