Deliberative Citizenship Initiative

Building Democracy One Conversation at a Time

Events

Commons Conversation with Chris Clunie

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Next week, the DCI concludes our Spring 2024 Commons Conversations program with special guest, VP and Director of Athletics Chris Clunie! Davidson students, join us Thursday, April 25th at 11:10 AM in the Annex at Vail Commons for a conversation about “Sports Betting: What are the Issues?” Seats are limited, so register on WildcatSync today!

Commons Conversations is a series of deliberative chats over lunch at Vail Commons and is open to all Davidson students. We have invited five faculty and staff members to host these conversations on topics relevant to their academic or professional expertise. At each session, these conversation hosts will briefly introduce the topic of conversation and share a few of their own insights on it. Students joining the lunch will then have an opportunity to discuss the topic with one another and the host in a conversation guided by our DCI Fellows, who are trained deliberation facilitators.

We hope to see you there!

A Night of Eating Ice Cream and Deliberating GOATs

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Davidson students in 900 room at 9

On March 12th, Davidson students gathered in the 900 Room at 9:00 to deliberate about the greatest of all time in music, movies, and Davidson life! The event was hosted by the DCI Fellows, and led by Senior Fellows LJ Phillips ’25 and Body Bassett ’25 and Fellows Logan Jain ’26 and Emre Guvenilir ’25.

The event was organized as a competitive deliberative event, and students enjoyed presenting competing arguments about what the best dorms at Davidson are, who the greatest basketball players of all time are, and all manner of similarly lighthearted but contentious topics. There were ice cream sundaes and premium prizes like DCI-themed Stanley cups. All in all the event was a great success, as it introduced students to the practices and principles of deliberation in a fun and engaging atmosphere.

This was the DCI’s second Deliberating GOATs event, and it is quickly becoming a campus tradition. We hope to see you next spring!

Spring 2024 Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Panel & Lunch

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DeeP Faculty Panel

On Friday, March 15th, faculty from Davidson and beyond gathered to learn from Professors Emily Sydnor (Political Science, Southwestern University), Rachel Pang (Religious Studies, Davidson College), Bassil El-Zaatari (Chemistry, Davidson College), and Anthony Kuchera (Physics, Davidson College) about how to integrate deliberative practices into their classrooms over lunch. The panelists spoke about best practices for hosting deliberations in the classroom, facilitating deliberation, providing feedback, and the improved learning outcomes they found in the courses where they had started to practice deliberative pedagogy.

For example, Professor El-Zaatari encouraged STEM faculty not to shy away from deliberative pedagogy in their courses. And Professor Pang spoke about increased student engagement and how students felt an increased sense of ownership over the course in her deliberative religious studies course. All in all, participants walked away with new knowledge about how to update their teaching practice with deliberative practices.

The event highlighted the work that all four professors did as members of the DCI’s Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative, which is a year-long, paid fellowship program that helps faculty embed deliberation about contentious topics into their courses related to their content. Attendees of the panel and lunch learned about how professors from very different disciplines can update their teaching practice with deliberative practices.

Graham Bullock, Faculty Director of the DCI, moderated the panel and announced that the applications to join the 2024-25 cohort of the Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative are now being accepted. Review of applications will begin on April 22 and will continue until all positions are filled. If participating in the Collaborative sounds intriguing to you, learn more and apply to be a Faculty Fellow in next year’s Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative here.

You can learn more about the Collaborative and hear what the panelists had to say yourself by checking out our recording of the panel discussion below…

Commons Conversations with Byron McCrae

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This week, the DCI continues our Spring 2024 Commons Conversations program with special guest, Dean Byron McCrae! Davidson students, join us Thursday, April 4th at 12:15 PM in the Annex at Vail Commons for a conversation about Davidson’s first year experience. The topic of discussion will be: Transitioning to College: How Can Davidson Improve Students’ First Year Experience? Seats are limited, so register on WildcatSync today!

Commons Conversations is a series of deliberative chats over lunch at Vail Commons and is open to all Davidson students. We have invited five faculty and staff members to host these conversations on topics relevant to their academic or professional expertise. At each session, these conversation hosts will briefly introduce the topic of conversation and share a few of their own insights on it. Students joining the lunch will then have an opportunity to discuss the topic with one another and the host in a conversation guided by our DCI Fellows, who are trained deliberation facilitators.

We hope to see you there!

“Safe Spaces: Benefits & Drawbacks” A Commons Conversation with Patricio Boyer

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Next Friday, the DCI is continuing our Spring 2024 Commons Conversations program with special guest, Professor Patricio Boyer! Davidson students, join us Friday, March 22nd at 11:15 AM in the Annex at Vail Commons for a conversation about safe spaces. The topic of discussion will be: Safe Spaces: Benefits and Drawbacks. Seats are limited, so register on WildcatSync today!

Commons Conversations is a series of deliberative chats over lunch at Vail Commons and is open to all Davidson students. We have invited five faculty and staff members to host these conversations on topics relevant to their academic or professional expertise. At each session, these conversation hosts will briefly introduce the topic of conversation and share a few of their own insights on it. Students joining the lunch will then have an opportunity to discuss the topic with one another and the host in a conversation guided by our DCI Fellows, who are trained deliberation facilitators.

We hope to see you there!