Rethinking felons’ rights

Andrew Dilts, assistant professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago, led a Luther College Philosophy Colloquium Feb. 25 in Olin 102.

The lecture was entitled “How Liberalism Succeeds in Failing the Felon.”

In his presentation, Dilts explained that in many states, people who have been convicted of felonies permanently lose the right to vote. He argued that the practice of felon disenfranchisement should have no place in American Liberalism and that it should be ended.

“We use the vote to symbolize our equality,” Dilts said. “But by denying people the right to vote, it symbolizes a social hierarchy.”

Dilts’ presentation followed with a question and answer session.

“He brought up some excellent arguments,” Andrew Meland (‘13) said. “And he shed some light on an issue that not enough people are thinking about and working to make better.”

Dilts is currently working on two book projects. One is on the topic of felon disenfranchisement in the United States, and the other is a study of French thinker Michel Foucault’s work in relation to neo-liberal economic theories of subjectivity.

“I thought his talk was especially timely and touched on a subject that students and professors across many disciplines would find quite compelling,” Holly Moore, assistant professor of philosophy, said. “It was a great pleasure to be able to invite such a dynamic speaker and thinker.”

Dilts studied economics at Indiana University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and he holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

His work largely focuses on the history of political thought and the relationship between citizenship and punishment, drawing from contemporary French political and philosophical thought.

“The way I see it, political theory is for the most part just another way of saying political philosophy,” Moore said. “So theorists like Professor Dilts are unsurprisingly quite at home with philosophers.”

Dilts is to start a new position as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in the fall.

“I really enjoyed the lecture and wish we had philosophy colloquiums more often,” Meland said.