Kicking off the Fairhaven Lecture Series Monday, Feb. 7 was political science Professor Monica Lineberger with a discussion about the lives of supreme court justices. Lineberger gave a passionate and lively lecture in which she not only discussed three big, specific justices throughout the years but talked about the large impact they made in the system. 

“I chose to look at three profiles of supreme court justices over the entire history of the supreme court and I picked John Marshall, Earl Warren and William Rehnquist to discuss with you today. What I wanted to focus on today is their personality and how their personalities have really shaped how the supreme court has earned its power over the years and how it functions as a supreme court,” said Lineberger.

Lineberger expressively talked about much more than procedures and straight-cut supreme court information. She spoke about the history behind prominent supreme court cases and the impactful justices. Lineberger spoke about not just the what, but the who, why, how, and when of the Supreme Court throughout United States history as well.

Kari Borne who works in continuing education at UW-Whitewater and is the coordinator of the Fairhaven lecture series is very enthusiastic and proud of this series. UWW has been putting on this lecture series with Fairhaven since 1943 and this year’s theme is American Profiles. So, that may include anything from politicians to social media to musicians to LGBTQ+ activists. 

“I’m excited to talk about the first justices, but also maybe the first Black women to serve on the court as well,” said Borne.

Now, typically Fairhaven would be able to open up the lecture series to the public but Covid-19 has caused some restrictions. Only members of Fairhaven Services are allowed to attend lectures in person whereas the public may only view them online. 

“Typically we’d be able to open this to the public, but with covid we have it open to others online,” said Kari Borne.

Furthermore. Borne expresses this lecture series gives faculty the chance to talk about something they are passionate about and not only their area of study. It also gives students the opportunity to learn something new without a quiz or assignments attached to it. 

There are videos of lectures going all the way back to 2012 for anyone to view. It was the first lecture of the American Profiles series and there are eight to ten lectures a series so make sure to be ready for more.