Andrzej Duda (right), former president of Poland, speaks alongside President Jim Gash at the Nov. 18 President’s Speaker Series in the Surfboard Room. Throughout the event, Duda spoke extensively about the Russo-Ukrainian war. Photos by Melissa Houston
The President’s Office hosted Andrzej Duda, former president of Poland, in the first installment of this academic year’s President’s Speaker Series on Nov. 18. At the hour-long event — held in Payson Library’s Surfboard Room — President Jim Gash led a conversation with Duda followed by a short Q&A session with the audience.
Duda, who served as president of Poland from 2015 through 2025, ran on the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) ticket during his 2015 presidential campaign, according to Reuters. He remained an ally of PiS throughout his two-term presidency — which ended Aug. 6 — and he and President Donald Trump have described each other as “friends.”
“He [Duda] was really informative, and honestly, it made me realize more about my culture and it was a history lesson in a way,” said senior Nicole Stryczek, whose parents were both born and raised in Poland.
Duda is the latest guest in the President’s Speaker Series, an initiative started under Gash’s administration in 2021. Last academic year, the series welcomed four conservative speakers: intellectual Jordan Peterson, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and Barbara Barrett, former secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Previous events have been held in Smothers Theatre and Firestone Fieldhouse.
The day prior, Duda spoke alongside others at a conference about the future of Israel led by Kiron Skinner, a School of Public Policy professor. Pepperdine’s new Institute for Diplomacy, Security, and Innovation hosted the event, which was held at the Drescher Graduate Campus.
At the end of the event, Gash announced three more President’s Speaker Series would take place during the spring 2026 semester after he returns from his sabbatical in late February. At the Aug. 6 President’s Briefing, Gash said his sabbatical would begin sometime in late November; a University spokesperson was unable to clarify more precise dates.
A Conversation with Andrzej Duda
Gash began the event by introducing Duda to the audience of about 150 people, which filled nearly every seat in the Surfboard Room. The two sat across from each other on a small stage.
“Today, we have a dedicated world leader who is with us, one who leads from a deep sense of purpose and has been dedicating his life to both public service and education,” Gash said.
Gash first asked Duda to compare his time as an academic to his time in politics.
“You have led a country, you’ve debated in European Parliament, you’ve taught law school at a top university,” Gash said. “Which is more difficult and rewarding: negotiating with NATO allies or teaching students?”
Both Duda and the audience laughed.
“Teaching students, definitely,” said Duda, grinning.
Attendees listen to Duda speak in the Surfboard Room on Nov. 18. Dozens of students were among the audience.
After that, Duda spoke about his political career, which began with becoming a city council member in Kraków — Duda’s hometown — before he worked his way up to Polish parliament and eventually European Parliament before his presidency.
Gash steered the conversation toward discussion of the Russo-Ukrainian war by asking Duda what went through his mind as president of Poland during the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Duda said when he received information from experts in November 2021 predicting the invasion, he thought it was “completely crazy.”
Duda spoke about Poland’s relationship with Ukraine since the invasion, including the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees, which he said involved “efficient, effective cooperation” with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said support for Ukraine was important to Poles due to their own history of Soviet occupation. Reuters called Duda “one of Ukraine’s most vocal wartime supporters.”
After that, Gash asked Duda to speak about the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Duda talked about accusations that Poland bore responsibility in the Holocaust, despite Nazi occupation of Poland and the lack of a Polish state at the time. In 2018, Duda signed into law an amendment that criminalized accusations that Poland had any responsibility or complicity in Nazi war crimes, according to BBC News; after months of protests and outcry from Israel and the U.S., the law was later changed to make the accusations a civil offense instead.
“I absolutely don’t deny that there were bad people in Poland who denounced Jews and who even collaborated with Germans, but people — not Poles as a nation, not Poles as some kind of institution because we had no Polish institution at that time [were responsible],” Duda said.
As a final question, Gash asked Duda to speak about Poland’s relationship with the United States in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Duda said he spoke with President Joe Biden “almost every two days” at the beginning of the invasion.
Q&A
Although Gash initially said he wanted to spend 30 minutes on both the conversation and Q&A portions of the event, the conversation lasted closer to 50 minutes, leaving time for only a couple audience questions before the event was scheduled to conclude about ten minutes later.
Audience questions were submitted via a QR code link at the event, allowing Gash to select which ones to ask Duda. The first question Gash asked: “What’s your favorite Polish food?”
“Pierogi,” Duda said.
The audience laughed.
The second question: “What do you think the future of the European Union is?”
Duda once again spoke about Ukraine, and how he believed supporting the country during the Russian invasion was in the interest of Poland, which aligned with his view that a country should put its own interests first. Two days after the Russian invasion, Duda advocated for Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Gash shakes Duda’s hand after giving him a commemorative coin at the end of the event Nov. 18. Duda shook hands with a few audience members before being escorted out of Payson Library; dozens of attendees followed him outside, with some attempting to get photos with him.
Gash ended the event by speaking about Pepperdine’s 2025-26 theme — “Purpose” — and presented a commemorative coin to Duda.
“Looking back on your life, President Duda, it is clear to me and to those here that you were called according to a purpose,” Gash said. “And that’s to stand up for the people of Poland, to stand up for the people of Ukraine and to lead a country.”
Duda thanked Gash.
“It’s a great pleasure for me and I’m so happy because, especially during the part of the conference we had yesterday, I felt that we share the same values here in this place, at your university,” Duda said.
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