By Saeran Dewar ’28 (DCI Fellow) & Katie Jung ’28 (DCI Fellow)
This October, we (Saeran Dewar ‘28 and Katie Jung ‘28) had the opportunity to attend the SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue as representatives of the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative and Davidson College. SNF Ithaca, an initiative of the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, is an organization that promotes students to engage in civil discourse and deliberation – and to bring these same skills back to their respective campuses.
Every year, the Dialogue convenes students from nearly 60 colleges and universities across the country. The diversity of student backgrounds and experiences greatly enriched the experience; we got to hear the unique problems faced by Harvard, Bolling Green State, Pomona, the University of Arizona, and Howard, to name a few.
This year’s theme was third spaces on college campuses. Third spaces refer to social areas that are separate from the home and the workplace, such as cafes, parks, libraries, and clubs. These are spaces where we would bump into friends, interact with strangers, and percolate ideas. Unfortunately, these spaces have seen a marked decline, along with civic engagement.
We noticed that while certain schools have these problems more severely (typically of larger size and student populations), Davidson doesn’t seem to suffer in the same way. In fact, it is uniquely positioned for cross-partisan dialogue. Davidson’s small size makes it nearly impossible to leave your room without at least saying a few words to someone. For example, the layout of Union with Davis Cafe surrounded by tables, running into acquaintances on the way to class, Nummit, the library (and its substitutes), Eating Houses, and fraternities provide a robust array of third spaces for students to be in community with one another.
On the other hand, other students described feeling isolated on their college campuses. One student from a large state university, for example, shared that they rarely engaged with their classmates – going to class, returning straight back to their dorm, and having no meaningful conversations in between. Problematically, this experience illustrates how severely lacking third spaces for community have become on many college campuses across the country.
Moreover, students at larger schools reported avoiding political conversations with those who might possibly have differing opinions, particularly men and women avoiding the topic. As we know, this avoidance to engage with diverse viewpoints, especially when polarized by gender, is dangerous. Additionally, Davidson’s small size aids in the task of amplifying DCI; much of our student body is bound to take a class with a deliberative pedagogy, participate in a D Team, have a friend that is involved, or take a class with a professor that is involved. In a tight-knit community like ours, DCI is able to have a wider reach with its programming.
Through reflecting on this experience, we realized what makes Davidson Davidson: It’s not just the small campus size that fosters connection, but the college’s unique mission to bring together diverse perspectives and experiences. It is palpable among students the sense of care that we have on campus, for our intellectual growth, and for each other. We believe this same sentiment should be spread beyond Davidson’s campus – serving as a model for how other institutions can cultivate genuine community and conversation.
