Lawrence Kohl, a UA history professor, has a distinct and unique sense of empathy that reaches back through history. Specifically, Kohl empathizes with those who know what needs to be said in society, but lack a voice to do so.

On Monday night, Kohl will get his chance to serve as that voice.

“A lot of people, quite frankly, aren’t free to speak,” Kohl said Tuesday, talking specifically about the education issues at the Capstone he’ll address in his speech. “They’re afraid about their jobs, or about what people might think of them,” he said.

“I hope to be able to say some things that other people might not be able — or willing — to say,” Kohl continued, “but what a lot of people are thinking. I think a lot of people are thinking the same things I’ll be talking about.”

When asked to specify the problems he alluded to, Kohl showed his genuine excitement about his speech.

“Well, I kind of hate to give away everything I’m going to say,” Kohl said, smiling. “If I said it now, it wouldn’t sound as good as it’s going to sound Monday night.”

He said some of the things at the University, about shaping how people teach an what to do in their classes, is “kind of wrong-headed.”

“I think it’s detrimental not only because people are being made to do it against their will, but also I don’t think it’s headed in the right direction,” he said. “I think some important things are being lost, and that’s what I want to talk about.”

Kohl said his purpose for the lecture would be to serve as a spokesman for the people who can’t talk about it.

Kohl has already accomplished that at several points in his career as a historian — both before and during his stint at the University beginning in 1987. In his previous work, Kohl noted a book of letters from an Irish-American soldier in the Civil War.

“He was particularly eloquent, and he served in a unit called the Irish Brigade of Irish-American soldiers who fought for the Union and had a particularly distinguished history,” Kohl said. “[The letters] were just rare. They were from a poor, uneducated Irishman. He was really eloquent, but couldn’t spell or punctuate.”

Kohl’s position as a Senior Blunt Undergraduate Initiative Fellow gives an example of his interdisciplinary personality.

“I’ve always had the sense that…perhaps I’ve never been a very good professional historian,” he said. “To me, history is not a profession. It’s just a way of thinking, it’s a part of life. I’ve never been one of those people that’s totally lost in the past. I’ve spent my whole career researching the past…but for the purpose of shaping the way I think today.”

In fact, it was through the Blount Undergraduate Initiative that Casey Sloan, a senior majoring in English, first became aware of Kohl’s teaching style.

“In the classroom, he encouraged a lot of open discussion,” Sloan said. “His teaching method was more formatted like a debate than a lecture.”

Sloan said she has taken two classes with Kohl, “American Individualism” and “Against the Grain: American Ideology, ” where Sloan and her class advocated for their teacher to be nominated for the lecture series.

Looking forward to next week, Sloan said she is excited about what Kohl will be discussing, which would most likely involve education today.

“I remember him saying that if he was chosen, he would talk about the state of education,” Sloan said. “I’m looking forward to him talking about the state of the teacher and the classroom, with more technology being put into the room and less teaching. He was not please about this.”

In addition, Sloan said what impresses her the most about Kohl was his open-mindedness to all his student’s different political beliefs and ideas.

“That’s a very interesting quality to encounter in a teacher,” Sloan said.

Kohl’s lecture will be Monday, April 26, at 6 p.m. in Alston Hall Room 130. The event is free and open to the public.