Deliberative Citizenship Initiative

Building Democracy One Conversation at a Time

Announcements

Transitions: Seeking a New Assistant Director of the DCI

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The work of the DCI over the past year has been in large part due to the exceptional efforts of our DCI Coordinator, Carla Cole.  Carla has been both in charge of managing our logistics, scheduling and planning throughout the year as well as contributing significantly to our work with our Fellows, our strategic planning, and the design of our programs. But alas, Carla will be leaving us soon to begin a full-time faculty position at Central Piedmont Community College. Her departure is bitter-sweet – we are excited for her as she takes on this new opportunity but are sad that it will take her away from us.

In light of Carla’s critical contributions to the DCI, we have initiated a search for an Assistant Director of the DCI. Priority review of applications will begin on September 26, 2022, and will continue until the position is filled. If you know anyone who might be interested, please forward the job description for the position on to them. The Assistant Director reports to the DCI Faculty Director and is responsible for the development, implementation, and assessment of the initiative’s programs and components. These include efforts to create opportunities for productive dialogue and deliberation in diverse classroom settings, outside of the classroom, and in the community.

DCI Kicks Off a New Year!

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It has been a busy week for the DCI as the 2022-23 academic year gets started here at Davidson. Monday night several of our new DCI Fellows represented the DCI at the Political Clubs Fair organized by the Center for Political Engagement. They were able to connect with other organizations interested in political issues and share information about the DCI with students curious about its various activities, from D Teams to Deliberative Forums and more.

Tuesday during Common Hour we had our first cohort meeting of the DCI’s fifteen new 2022-23 Fellows. They include first years through seniors, several international students, and several scholar-athletes, and all of them are passionate about deliberation and excited about getting involved in the DCI. We got to know each other a bit and reviewed our plans for the year, which are extensive and we’re looking forward to sharing more with you about them soon.

Then on Wednesday, several Fellows shared information with interested students about the DCI at a table in front of the College Union. Through this outreach, several students signed up for D Teams (the final deadline is this Friday!) and for updates from the DCI.

We are rounding out the week tomorrow with our Semester Kickoff Party, which will be held in the 900 Room from 12 pm to 2 pm. Students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members are all invited to come learn more the DCI, pick up some tips on how to engage in difficult conversations on contentious topics, and enjoy some pizza, prizes, and deliberative activities. We hope you can join us!

Friday (9/2) is also the final deadline to sign up for the DCI’s fall D Teams, which is open to everyone and meets three times during the semester. Our fall topics are election accessibility, security, and fairness. Learn more here and register here by tomorrow!

Join a Fall D Team!

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The Deliberative Citizenship Initiative is committed to enhancing the quality of our political discourse with one another through deliberative efforts that span the Davidson community and beyond. One of the ways the DCI aims to achieve this goal is through its Deliberative “D” Teams. D Teams are small groups of 6 to 10 people who meet regularly to discuss important but difficult issues facing society.

Concerns surrounding elections have heightened in recent years as Americans worry about voter fraud and suppression, election security and accessibility, and the fairness and inclusivity of the American electoral system. Various states have enacted stricter voting laws while other have attempted to expand access to the ballot box. As the 2022 elections approach this fall, the DCI’s D Teams will focus on the issues, pressing challenges, and possible solutions related to voting and elections in America.

Over three sessions, D Teams will deliberate about how we can make voting more accessible, more secure, and more fair. The first session will focus on whether we should make voting more accessible through early voting, voting by mail, an increased number of polling places, and more. The second D Team meeting will examine election security and whether we should reduce concerns about voter fraud through poll watching, use of better technology, voter ID laws, and other strategies. The third and final session will address whether we should improve our elections by implementing reforms such as ranked choice voting, proportional representation, and the abolition of the electoral college.

voter d teams

The DCI seeks individuals with diverse perspectives to participate in D Teams to share their thoughts and ideas for broadening our understanding of one another’s opinions and addressing the challenges we face – everyone’s voice is welcome and needed! Teams will meet either online or in person every three weeks from September to November, for a total of three meetings during the fall semester. In order to build and maintain a sense of community and trust within each team, we ask that participants commit to attending all three sessions.

To learn more about this opportunity, visit the DCI website. To register, please sign up here by Sept. 2, 2022. And feel free to share this information with your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors — anyone who you think might be interested in joining!

DCI Publishes 2021-2022 Annual Report

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The DCI recently published its 2021-2022 Annual Report, which summarizes the DCI’s programming and highlights the accomplishments of the DCI over the past year. Participation in DCI activities significantly increased in its second full year of operation; the number of D Team members, for example, more than doubled! The DCI also extended its work across multiple campuses through the Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative, a group of 15 faculty members who embedded deliberation into their courses across a wide range of disciplines. It also expanded its presence online and partnered with a wide range of organizations on and off campus to promote and host a variety of deliberative opportunities.

During 2021-2022, the DCI hosted 27 D Teams, two Deliberative Forums, a facilitator training workshop, a DeeP Collaborative workshop, and one guest speaker whose public lectures focused on democracy and public discourse. The DCI’s Fellows Program included eight students, one alum, and one staff member who immersed themselves in deliberative theory and practice and facilitated the DCI’s D Team meetings and Deliberative Forum breakout rooms. The Fellows also completed their own personal deliberative projects that brought together people from across the Davidson campus and community.

Overall, 2021-2022 was very successful for the DCI, even as the ongoing pandemic continued to present challenges. Forum and D Team participants reported high levels of satisfaction with their DCI deliberative experiences. We look forward to the upcoming year as we continue our progress and engagement with the Davidson College community and beyond!

To check out the full 2021-22 Annual Report, click here.

DCI Featured in The Davidsonian

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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.