Tapping into frustration over political and personal incivility, and the inability to work toward middle ground on contentious topics, SMU’s Center for Presidential History and the Cary Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility are launching The Third Rail Series to analyze and discuss deliberately touchy issues.

The first program will feature SMU scholars Maria Dixon Hall, Matthew Wilson, and Jeffrey Engel discussing the unusual anger and extremism revealed in the current presidential campaign. Engel will moderate a debate between Hall and Wilson on the topic, “The 2016 presidential campaign has revealed unusual anger and extremism: Should political discourse be less sensitive to identity politics?”