Buckley Institute Announces Fourth Lux et Veritas Faculty Prize Winner

The Buckley Institute is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2025 Lux et Veritas Faculty Prize is Dr. Daniel Schillinger, lecturer in the Department of Political Science and the Directed Studies Program at Yale University. The Lux et Veritas Faculty Prize honors faculty who go above and beyond to facilitate open discussion and debate in the classroom, creating an environment where all perspectives are welcome. The Buckley Institute received over 110 nominations from Yale students, faculty, and alumni. 

Praise from Students and Colleagues

Schillinger stood out for motivating his students to avoid ideological shortcuts and develop their own conclusions on big-picture issues. “He encourages students to try on different perspectives, and when no one is willing to argue against a point, Professor Schillinger takes on the dissident perspective,” Ely Altman ’25 commented. “Professor Schillinger cares deeply about his students’ ability to come to answers by themselves; he has no agenda to impress upon us, other than a profound love for thinking critically about the humanities.”

Schillinger was specifically cited for pushing Yalies to engage with opposing viewpoints at their strongest, masterfully guiding discussion as a teacher who “sees the value in every viewpoint and encourages us to provide deep, thoughtful, and unique contributions to the conversation,” according to Tiana Luo ’24. 

Schillinger took the time to practice what he preached, inspiring students from all backgrounds to achieve excellence wherever they landed on the political spectrum. “As a conservative, I was extremely heartened by Professor Schillinger’s willingness to engage with my ideas and encourage my pursuits outside of the classroom,” Trevor MacKay ’25 said. 

“His approach to pedagogy advances the noble aim of education: the freeing of the mind from the temporal and mundane aspects of everyday life in order to apprehend the true, good, and beautiful,” past faculty prize winner and Department of Political Science Lecturer Gregory Collins concluded

The Lux et Veritas Faculty Prize

In recognition of his support for open dialogue and debate in the classroom, the Buckley Institute will present Dr. Daniel Schillinger with a memorial plaque and a $10,000 prize during a celebratory event in the fall. The ceremony will feature a discussion with Dr. Schillinger and reception. Information on the date, time, and location will be released later this summer. 

Past winners include Lecturer Gregory Collins, Professor Amy Chua, and Lecturer Mordechai Levy-Eichel. The Buckley Institute is dedicated to fostering free speech, open debate, and civil discourse on Yale’s campus. The faculty prize encourages Yale faculty to realize those principles in the classroom, helping students develop a deep appreciation and empathy for views that differ from their own. Click here to learn more about the Lux et Veritas Faculty Prize and watch lectures from the previous years’ winners!

Biography

Daniel Schillinger is a lecturer in Political Science at Yale University, where he has also been a Postdoctoral Associate and lecturer in Humanities as well as a fellow of the Whitney Humanities Center. As a teacher, Schillinger has devoted himself to Yale’s Directed Studies Program, a great books program for Yale freshmen shaped by Donald Kagan, the founding advisor of the Buckley Institute. Since his arrival at Yale in Fall 2020, Schillinger has delivered (he believes!) more lectures than any other faculty member to the assembled Directed Studies Program (on thinkers such Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau).

Schillinger also teaches upper-level seminars on topics such as Thucydides, Greek tragedy, and Hobbes’s Leviathan. A historian of political thought, Schillinger’s book, Luckless: The Idea of Luck in Ancient Greek Thought, is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. He has published essays in venues such as Political Research Quarterly, History of Political Thought, The Review of Metaphysics, The Washington Post, and The Point.