Author and Drury alum James Owen ‘00 and popular podcaster and law professor Melissa Murray are the final guest speakers of the year for the Meader Center Speaker Series “10 Years of the Meador Center”. Owen is scheduled to speak at noon, Wednesday, March 18, in the Olin Library Lyceum, while Murray will speak at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, April 9 at Washington Avenue Baptist Church.
Owen will be discussing his new book “The Wicked Among Us: Murder, Blackmail, and Book Collecting in the Ozarks”, a deep dive into the murder of Springfield resident Roland Comstock, an eccentric attorney, owner of pet wolves, and curator of a massive, world-famous personal book collection in the Ozarks—whose 2007 murder stunned the community.
Owen, who knew Comstock personally and worked for him right out of law school, spent years researching and writing this compelling story, filled with all the intrigue, mystery, and twists of a gripping true-crime drama.
Murray is a professor at New York University School of Law and the host of the popular Strict Scrutiny podcast, which offers timely and accessible commentary on the U.S. Supreme Court and the broader judicial culture surrounding it. Professor Murray is a nationally and internationally renowned scholar of constitutional law and family law. She is a frequent voice in national media, has guest-hosted Deadline: White House for Nicolle Wallace, and previously clerked for Federal Judge (and future Supreme Court Justice) Sonia Sotomayor.
About The Meador Center
The Department of Political Science and International Affairs at Drury University houses the L.E. Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship, supported by the Meador Endowment. Founded in 2015 in honor of Professor L.E. Meador, the Drury University Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship is dedicated to the academic inquiry of politics and citizenship in the modern world. The work of the Meador Center is to inspire and engage Drury University students and faculty to work toward that “more democratic and more hopeful world” of which Professor Meador spoke.
For more information on the Meador Center Speaker Series, contact Meador Center Director Dr. Daniel Ponder at (417) 873-7394 or deponder@drury.edu.