Hunter Rawlings, the president of the American Association of Universities, delivered a lecture yesterday evening in Cocke Hall which emphasized the importance of a classics education for the Founding Fathers, and by extension the shape of the nation.

In his lecture titled “The Founders and the Classics,” Rawlings, a former president of Cornell University, discussed how James Madison and Thomas Jefferson benefited from a strong classics education.

Rawlings commanded the room and used humor to engage the audience. The exceptionally tall Rawlings commented on the ceiling in the Gibson Room, quipping, “I am, for obvious reasons, partial to high ceilings.”

While detailing Madison’s time spent studying Latin, Greek and ancient Hebrew at the College of New Jersey — which is modern-day Princeton — Rawlings said, “Many Americans would consider this a completely wasted education … [we] have governors in the country that argue in print that this is a [waste of an education].”

The event was part of a series of lectures at the University organized by the Virginia Friends of the Classics, comprised of faculty members in the classics department and members of the Charlottesville community. The lectures invite University faculty and visiting scholars to speak about classics-related topics.

Classics Prof. Jenny Clay said she sensed “genuine interest and excitement” about the classics.

Capitalizing on this excitement, Clay recruited community member, writer and publisher Katherine McNamara to the Virginia Friends of the Classics steering committee.

McNamara said she kept working on the committee because she believes her background in the classics assisted her in her present career.

“When you’ve studied one of the ancient languages … your thinking process becomes clearer,” McNamara said.

During questioning from the audience, Rawlings addressed a low point in the history of the classics’ impact on U.S. society. At one point, the classics were used as a defense of slavery, he said.

“[Slave owners] would use their classical education to say that slavery was natural, normal and defensible,” Rawlings said during the lecture. “It was a lot easier to defend slavery from antiquity … [Slavery] was everywhere [in the classics].”