The Presidential Speaker Series, introduced in 2023, centers on freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, and campus dialogue. Open to all members of the Seattle University community, the series features nationally recognized scholars and thought leaders.

Join us for the next discussion on Thursday, September 11, featuring Stephen Macedo and the hosts from the podcast Blue City Blues, David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik.

Professor Macedo will discuss In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us (Princeton University Press, 2025), which he coauthored with Frances Lee. Featured on the New York Times' The Daily podcast and CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, the book is the first comprehensive - and candid - political assessment of Covid-19 policy and how our institiutions fared during the pandemic.

Stephen Macedo

Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University

Stephen Macedo writes and teaches on political theory, ethics, public policy, and law, especially on topics related to liberalism, democracy and citizenship, diversity and civic education, religion and politics, and the family and sexuality. 

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2014, and the American Academy of Sciences and Letters since October 2024, he is also immediate past-President of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy.  He is author, with Princeton Professor Frances Lee, of In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us (Princeton University Press, 2025), a comprehensive examination of Covid-19 policy and discussion around it as a window onto our political dysfunction.

David Hyde

Co-host of Blue City Blues

For nearly 2 decades, David Hyde worked for an NPR-affiliate in Seattle, most recently as a Murrow-award winning politics reporter. He departed in 2024 to dedicate himself full time to podcasting and other journalism and writing projects. Blue City Blues builds on the success David had with the first podcast he created, Seattle Nice.  Each week Seattle Nice takes a deep dive look at local politics in Seattle with David, Sandeep Kaushik and Erica C. Barnett.

Sandeep Kaushik

Co-host of Blue City Blues

Sandeep Kaushik is a political and public affairs consultant in Seattle. He previously worked in journalism, as a staff writer and political columnist at the Stranger, Seattle’s alt weekly, and as the Washington State correspondent for Time magazine and the Boston Globe. Along with co-hosting Blue City Blues, Sandeep is one third of the influential Seattle Nice podcast, which covers Seattle municipal politics from an insider perspective.