I’m one of the organizers of the event from the Social Justice Center. I found your blog while I was searching conservatism and social justice in Google. I wanted to address some of your concerns:

The title for this event, “Can Conservatives be Pro-Social Justice?” was hatched by Professor/Ambassador Thomas Schweich. As you may know, Schweich was appointed under the Bush administration to be ambassador of counter-narcotics in Afghanistan. He approached me about speaking to the Social Justice Center, and we both agreed it would make for a fascinating event. I, too, was hesitant to use this title because it seems like a bit of a potboiler–in fact I carefully worded my emails to say “tentatively entitled ‘Can Conservatives be Pro Social Justice?’” to suggest their was leeway. But I think the implications are obvious: the term “social justice” is not absolute.

“How is social justice being defined?” — This is the purpose of the panel. What is social justice? What is the conservative view of social justice? How does the relate to the liberal view? Are they mutually exclusive? etc.

This is partially why the panel is made up completely of conservatives–not liberals. If a liberal panelist had been added, then the conservatives and liberals might just been so fundamentally opposed that no meaningful discussion would result. It’s not meant to be an indictment of conservatism, but a discussion both between conservatives and outsiders. (Speaking of which, we’re still looking for a social conservative since the ones we contacted declined due to other obligations. Perhaps you know one.)

As for the format and the setup of the panel–that was and is very much up for discussion. Again, it was conceived in Schweich’s office: one component would be moderated discussion of conservative panelists and another component would be Q & A from the audience. We also left open that possibility to altering this format in discussion with the College Republicans, although I’m not sure if that was communicated to you.

Perhaps you want to share your thoughts on “social justice” at the event or post a question for the panelists on the Facebook event. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=63329808731&ref=mf

Thanks
John