By Carla Cole, DCI Coordinator
The DCI was recently featured in an article in The Davidsonian entitled “DCI Creates New Forum for Student-Faculty Engagement.” In the article, Kevin Garcia-Galindo ’24, a 2022-23 DCI Fellow, and Dr. Graham Bullock, the DCI’s Faculty Director, explain the purpose of the DCI and ways in which DCI programming helps students to engage in discourse across difference in productive, meaningful ways.
The DCI seeks to reinforce humane instincts in an effort to bridge polarization and foster empathy as we interact with others with whom we deeply disagree. Dr. Bullock explains the need for deliberative spaces and processes as a means of approaching difficult problems and promoting healthy democracy, and how deliberation can catalyze “creative solutions that may transcend where we started.”
The article highlights DCI programming, including the Fellows Program, Deliberative Forums, D Teams, and Commons Conversations. The Fellows Program is the core of the DCI, as Fellows serve as student leaders who immerse themselves in deliberative theory and practice. They facilitate deliberative forums, D Teams, and the newly launched Commons Conversations, which provides a space for students to deliberate about issues important to them in a productive way. As Garcia-Galindo states, getting DCI participants to talk to each other “deeply about their beliefs and values during conversations that feel like they really matter has been such an inspiring opportunity for me, one that I hope to continue in the future.”
You can read the full article here.
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