Zoe Moseley ’26 (DCI Fellow)
On Friday February 23rd, ten lucky Davidson students signed up to spend their lunch hour deliberating about international politics. The topic discussed for an hour was the United States’ role in intervening should China take military action in Taiwan. Davidson is lucky to have one of the leading experts on Taiwanese politics, Dr. Shelley Rigger, who was generous enough to answer students’ questions. The conversation began with DCI Fellow Florian Moser setting the expectations of the conversation. He encouraged everyone in the room to introduce themselves before they spoke. This led to participants being able to learn who was in the room, which ranged from students across different fields of study and from each class year. It also allowed students to express why they felt curious about this topic, or why they might have an interesting perspective to share.
Dr. Rigger prompted the conversation by introducing the relationship between Taiwan and China. The first question that came after this was, “Well, what could the U.S. even do?” It was fascinating to see students discuss potential outcomes. We spoke about economic and social consequences. After most people finished eating students had no hesitation to jump in. Two students came in that had interned in Taiwan for a summer, and they recounted stories from their experience. One student said that she was in Taiwan the day Nancy Pelosi visited, and Dr. Rigger and other students who understood the context of her visit laughed.
A few students chose to ask questions to the entire group rather than state their opinion. This led to more fruitful conversation and to some healthy disagreements. The deliberation ended with more questions asked than in the D Teams that I have facilitated, but regardless, Dr. Rigger expressed how much she enjoyed the discussion. And as I was putting away my dishes, I heard students continuing to deliberate after the event was over. It was a great way to launch our first Commons Conversation of the semester – stay tuned for more about our future ones coming soon!
