250 years ago next July, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed to the world that all men are created equal and that governments must derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” As America prepares to commemorate this milestone and the nation’s semiquincentennial with small-town parades, Smithsonian exhibitions, and the Great American State Fair, Davidson College’s Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, in collaboration with Duke University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is organizing a year-long series of forums focused on the values defining the American ethos.
Whether our deliberations are on healthcare reform, the role of religion in public life, or the results of the presidential election (all DCI events in the past year), American values play a significant role in the perspectives of our participants. Within our invocations of justice, self-government, and other ideals lie far more nuance than can be expressed in these policy conversations. At the root of each of these values lies a long history of shared and contested meaning. This year’s Series on American Values is a year-long program of forums and deliberations dedicated to unpacking, understanding, and applying the concepts that are foundational to the United States – and to many other countries around the world.
Between the more aspirational philosophical ideals of the Declaration and the more practical governing precepts of the Constitution, American values do not all fit neatly into a perfectly interlocking puzzle. Instead, they are often in conflict and subject to challenging contradictions, requiring citizens to determine what matters most when choices must be made. Each of our four forums this year will wrestle with two values that are at once fundamental to our country and can be both complementary to and in conflict with one another. They include Unity and Equality, Self-Government and National Stability, Liberty and General Welfare, and Justice and Rule of Law. Recognizing the relevance of these values to current events, each theme will also connect to a politically salient issue facing the nation today.
This Series on American Values is designed to connect the insights of experts with the views of the people. Each forum will begin with a 90-minute Expert Roundtable where invited scholars with different backgrounds and perspectives will share their insights on the history, meaning, and contemporary relevance of the values at stake. For those who would like to get them on their calendars now, below are the dates and locations of our forums.
- Forum #1: Balancing Unity and Equality: The Case of Citizenship and Immigration – Tuesday, September 30 (7 to 8:30 pm), Hosted at Davidson College
- Forum #2: Balancing Self-Government and National Stability: The Case of Presidents, Institutions, and the People – Thursday, October 30 (5 to 6:30 pm) Hosted at UNC-Chapel Hill
- Forum #3: Balancing Liberty and General Welfare: The Case of Personal Freedoms and Social Safety Nets – Wednesday, February 11 (7 to 8:30 pm), Hosted at Davidson College
- Forum #4: Justice and the Rule of Law: The Case of Constitutional Rights and Judicial Interpretation – Tuesday, March 24 (6 to 7:30 pm), Hosted at Duke University
The first of these forums is on “Balancing Unity and Equality: The Case of Citizenship and Immigration” and will feature a roundtable of experts who will explore what these different values mean and how they have both complemented and conflicted with one another in American history. They will also discuss how immigration policies should balance national cohesion with a commitment to the equal dignity of all people. To learn more about and reserve an in-person or online ticket for this forum, click here.
In the week after the Roundtable, the DCI invites members of the public – students, staff, faculty, and community members – to participate in a series of Community Conversations that will build on the roundtable discussions. These two-hour deliberative discussions of 6-10 people will be moderated by trained facilitators and will use a similar format to the DCI’s D Teams. To learn more about this opportunity and reserve a time that works for you, click here (the deadline to do so is September 5).
This year, we’re proud to partner with two other North Carolina institutions of higher education, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, to expand the reach of the series. Davidson will host two of the Expert Roundtables, while Duke and UNC will each host one roundtable on their respective campuses. All four will be available to watch online, with potential for “watch parties” to be held at higher education institutions and other organizations across North Carolina and beyond. We’ll be hosting such watch parties at Davidson, and Duke and UNC will be doing so as well. In the week after the Expert Roundtables, students, staff, and community members at Duke, UNC, and potentially other institutions will also have the opportunity to participate in deliberations on what they heard from the roundtable discussion.
Given the importance of the topics we will be covering, we hope other colleges, universities, and other civil society organizations will attend these forums and organize conversations around them. Please invite organizations you are involved with to consider developing their own programs in conjunction with this Series on American Values. To support these efforts, on August 25, we will be hosting a webinar for individuals and institutions interested in organizing their own programs related to this American Values Forum Series (register here). The DCI will also be hosting its annual Deliberation Facilitator Training Program on August 31 and September 7; if you are interested in learning how you might host a conversation in association with our American Values Forum Series, we encourage you to register for this training here.
We hope you will join us in this yearlong exploration on the meaning and importance of American values and add your voice to the ongoing conversation about who we are, what we stand for, and where we go from here.
Below are links to register for the first Expert Roundtable, the webinar introducing the American Values Forum, and the DCI’s Community Conversations (this fall’s D Teams) and Deliberation Facilitation Training Program. Links to our later Expert Roundtables and Community Conversations hosted at other institutions will be posted to this webpage – check there later for more info coming soon!
