Advancing civil discourse on college campuses

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Ithaca Initiative in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware welcomed over 100 students, faculty and staff from across the United States for its third annual SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue from March 22-24 on the Newark campus.

From Friday to Sunday, the weekend-long event took attendees through case study presentations, panel discussions and various breakout sessions that included combined and separate tracks for faculty and students. The balance of structured and less structured sessions allowed for productive activity while leaving space for organic moments of connection.

The 2024 program featured a new workshop session specially for faculty called "Teaching Democracy in the Classroom," which kicked off the weekend with faculty and doctoral students from both of SNF Ithaca's sister programs, Johns Hopkins University's SNF Agora Institute and the University of Pennsylvania's SNF Paideia Program. Students from each of these programs attended the SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue. This year also featured an open invitation for UD students to join in on the learning and connection opportunities.

Centering around the timely theme of "free expression and the inclusive community," each agenda item was grounded in the higher education climate of the present-day and recent months. How do free speech and inclusivity intersect? How can they co-exist on college campuses? Is it appropriate to frame these democratic principles as conflicting with one another?

A fraught challenge

Six decades after the Civil Rights Movement took the nation by storm and the concept of free speech burst into the public consciousness via college campuses, the collective group gathered on Saturday at Clayton Hall was quickly reminded of how full circle things feel today and the risks at hand, albeit with some shifts around those speaking up regarding freedom of speech.

"We need not look far to see national civil discourse rapidly deteriorating. Amid political violence, amid rampant conspiracy theories and polarization, the world is looking to us - to each one of you - to engage in the preservation of our democracy," said Biden School interim dean Joseph Trainor as he addressed the crowd.