“AHI provides Hamilton College students and the broader community an enormous benefit by engaging important topics about our nation’s founding and current policy choices. The Institute’s willingness to involve people across the political spectrum is particularly important, and I have enjoyed the opportunity which AHI has provided to present my research to a broader audience. I hope the Institute continues to encourage students to understand our history, to engage topics in civil discourse, and to challenge the status quo when necessary to promote progress.”
-John Ragosta, Ph.D, J.D., Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello
“It is an honor to be endorsing the Alexander Hamilton Institute as a center of open intellectual and political discussion. Under the bold leadership of Professor Robert Paquette, this institution has been a beacon of light in an increasingly bigoted academic world that rages against any politically unacceptable dissent. The staff and students whom I have encountered during my visits to the AHI are clearly dedicated to the academic and intellectual freedom that is vanishing from our universities and from what was once ‘higher education.’ Further, the stately institute building in which meetings and seminars take place houses massive collections of Western classics and multiple works by American scholars. Visiting students are encouraged to become familiar with these texts and to spend time poring over them. In short, the AHI has become a needed substitute for the kind of teaching and learning that the onetime distinguished college where Professor Paquette taught for many decades, has progressively abandoned.
It would be remiss to close this endorsement without underlining the courage and character of the person who runs the AHI. Although a brilliant scholar in his own field, Bob Paquette has sacrificed an endowed chair at Hamilton College and risked financial insecurity to carry on his solitary battle for academic freedom. He is anything but the conservative movement time-server whom I have pilloried in my writings. Would that all self-described American conservatives were made of his mettle!”
-Paul Gottfried, Raffensperger Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Elizabethtown College
“As a senior student at Hamilton College, AHI and its members have been a significant part of my undergraduate education. I became involved with the organization towards the end of my sophomore year when I was looking for internship opportunities for the summer of 2017. I met Professor Paquette, and he introduced me to the second annual Washington Program on National Security (or WaPoNS). With all expenses paid, I was thrilled to visit Washington, D.C. for the first time in my life and visit a variety of institutions engaged with the American federal government. The program’s coordinator, Dr. Juliana Pilon, is well-connected in Washington, and she provided me with friendly guidance and potential networking opportunities during the two-week program. I was privileged to be a part of Professors Ambrose and Paquette’s ‘The Old South’ class during the fall of senior year. Both professors were knowledgeable and passionate for teaching students and inspiring intellectual curiosity. Participating in the 2018 Monticello conference as a student of the course and a photographer of the event was a rewarding experience, especially as I was among the leading scholars on Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. I subsequently wrote an article on the conference for the intellectually stimulating student-run publication, Enquiry. Dr. Frisk is a kind, generous man who has provided me with additional support at the organization, and he has encouraged me to write more for Enquiry. I have participated in a variety of unique events at the AHI’s Clinton, NY headquarters since I began my involvement with the organization, all of which provided me with worthwhile experiences, such as meeting great authors, enjoying great food, and learning new perspectives. I believe AHI has been very generous in all aspects whenever they’ve engaged with me. Professor Paquette has provided me with excellent mentoring now as I write my senior thesis in history at Hamilton.
AHI and its members have provided me with a wonderful, worthwhile, rigorous, and inspiring intellectual experience during my time at Hamilton. They welcome members of diverse political affiliations, they are generous, and most importantly, they all have a passion for nurturing its esteemed members as citizens engaged in intellectual curiosity and civic engagement. Principal members of the organization, like Drs. Ambrose, Paquette, Frisk, and Pilon have all been supremely generous and kind mentors, while the undergraduate fellows are thoughtful and friendly. I strongly recommend AHI to anyone interested in growing his or her mind in all forms.”
-Juan Hernandez, Hamilton College, Class of 2019
“I am thrilled to have found at last a community where conflicting political ideas can be discussed in a large group reasonably, intelligently, by well-informed adults and, most important, with total civility! Since the very beginning of AHI more than ten years ago, professors, teachers, high-school and college students, lawyers, farmers, engineers, an artist (myself), and others from this general area have learned about a wonderful selection of subjects relating to the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and exchanged ideas and thoughts with great mutual respect. Dr. David Frisk lectures just enough. Each ‘student’ brings his or her own expertise to bear on the subject. It is fascinating always. The readings (free!) are of a grand variety. The topics of each course are various as well; no repetition and all political points of view shared and explained. Also, how privileged we are to share the professional expertise of each participant when it becomes relevant to the topic. I have taken all of the courses. Each session continues to add a rich dimension to my life. I feel that these courses represent American education at its best.”
-Catharine Westlake, Artist, Forestport, New York, Smith College, Class of 1958
“Today happens to be the Anniversary of my Wedding and the Feast Day of St. Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, and another man of principle as are you. As you know, he was beheaded in the Tower of London on this day in 1535 for resigning as Chancellor of England rather than approve King Henry VIII’s divorce to marry his second of several wives and his split with Rome. I am pleased that today we don’t behead those who resign as a matter if principle, at least on the Top of College Hill. . . . You are doing great work down there [at AHI]”
