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On a new episode of The Daily Signal Podcast, Katrina Trinko � editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal and a graduate of the 91����� Aquinas College Class of 2009 � interviews the College�s president-elect, Dr. Paul J. O�Reilly.

�I am a graduate of 91����� Aquinas College. I spent four great years there, learned a lot, talked a lot,� Miss Trinko observes at the podcast�s outset. �So, I�m going to just acknowledge I�m a little biased here!� From there, Miss Trinko asks Dr. O�Reilly about a wide range of subjects, including the College�s unique curriculum and pedagogy, its robust financial aid program, student moral and social life, and the recent expansion to two campuses, one on each coast.

The conversation begins with a discussion of the meaning of liberal education � which, Dr. O�Reilly explains, �helps us understand who we are, what we are, and what are our ethical and political responsibilities� � and how, while not aimed at practical pursuits, it nonetheless prepares graduates well for life after graduation. �Our students, if they give themselves to the program, really have skills that are easily translatable in many different fields,� he adds. �So we have our good share of lawyers and doctors, we have teachers, we have IT specialists. But there�s no field that our students can�t pursue if they have the interest.�

In light of recent controversies about education and its treatment of American history, Miss Trinko also asks Dr. O�Reilly about the College�s inclusion of key documents related to the American founding � such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates � in its classical curriculum. �In the Declaration, we read and take seriously the claim that all men are created equal,� he replies. �Now, one of the things we read, as a kind of challenge as how to understand that, is the Dred Scott decision, and that was a Supreme Court decision, which is shameful, in which the Supreme Court argued that that must mean � because of the existence of slavery at the time � that only all white men and males, generally, are equal. But that simply is not what the words mean, and Lincoln helps us walk through, I think, a coherent understanding of the Declaration and the Constitution, so that we have a better understanding of what this country is all about.�

Of course, the discussion also notes that, despite long odds and difficult times, 91����� Aquinas College � now celebrating its 50^th anniversary � has expanded to two campuses. �Fifty years suggest a kind of stability, but the fact that we are growing and have a second campus, and that second campus is thriving, is really exciting for those of us who have been at the College for a long time,� says Dr. O�Reilly. �It�s really an exciting thing to witness.�

The podcast is available through the player below: