This year college president, Shirley Mullen, selected John Inazu to speak at Commencement. When choosing a speaker, Mullen values those who have something important to offer the graduates. She looks for someone with an ability to speak eloquently, as well as someone who can extend Houghton’s connections in one way or another, either in connection with the church, the region, or the larger academic world.
Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion and Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis where he teaches criminal law, law and religion, and various First Amendment seminars.
In his Washington University biography, Inazu explained his area of study, “My scholarship focuses on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and related issues of political and legal theory.”
Inazu has written several books on the topic including, Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly, published by Yale University Press in 2012, and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2016.
Mullen values that Dr. Inazu is “a deeply committed Christian [who has] worked with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.” She values that he is concerned with how to create a society where people with strongly held differences can live together peaceably without compromising their personal beliefs. “Given today’s increasingly divided political and theological world, this is a high priority.”
Inazu comes from a prestigious academic background, including being named Washington University’s 2014 David M. Becker Professor of the Year, a visiting assistant professor at Duke University School of Law, a Royster Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As well as distinguished legal experience, he clerked for Judge Roger L. Wollman of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. According to Houghton’s press release, he also served for four years as an associate general counsel with the Department of the Air Force at the Pentagon.
Mullen sees Inazu as an ideal person, with his extensive legal and religious experience, to speak to graduates on how to navigate today’s divided political and theological world.
“I believe that graduates of Christian colleges like Houghton are ideal agents or catalysts for creating this kind of peaceable society that is also rich in ideas and reflection—as opposed to a society where everyone must think the same thing in order to be able to live together in peace—or live in fear of ideas that are different from one’s own,” said Mullen. “I believe this is the work of being “salt” and “light” as followers of Jesus Christ in our time.” She continued, “In creating this hospitable space for complicated and difficult conversations, we are also creating space for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of both believers and unbelievers to bring us deeper into the Truth.”
While Mullen recognizes the most important thing about Commencement is the awarding of diplomas and the celebration with families, she added, “We want to offer on that day something of potential value as our graduates think about their future.”