Deliberative Forums

In the Spring of 2023, Davidson College’s Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, Digital Studies, Political Science, and Psychology Departments, and Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship hosted a Deliberative Forum on “Social Media: How Should We Engage and/or Regulate it, If at All?” This Deliberative Forum enabled participants to actively engage with this important issue, first by hearing from an online panel of experts with diverse perspectives on the topic, and then by actively deliberating with one another in facilitated small group discussions (either in person or virtually) on how best to engage with and regulate social media (if at all). We have just released the recording of the panel portion of the forum and you can view it now below. Also included below are some photos from the event, the event’s deliberation guide and the event flyer for your reference. Enjoy!

Here is a photo of the in-person audience as they listened to the online panel, moderated by Professor Mark Sample…

And here is one of the several small group discussions that followed the panel discussion…

And here is a video recording of the panel discussion…

Here is the deliberation guide that was distributed to the participants beforehand and was used to guide the small group discussions.

DCI-Social-Media-Deliberation-Guide

Social-Media-Forum-Poster_4.5.23

On September 29, 2022, the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, in partnership with Davidson College’s Educational Studies Department and Political Science Department, co-hosted a Deliberative Forum on “Parents and Schools: Who Should Teach our Children about Race, Gender, and Sexuality.” The event included both an expert panel discussion and small group deliberations on the topic.

The DCI selects both locally and nationally relevant topics for its forums that citizens – in the broadest sense of the word – have strongly-held, diverse, and conflicting views on and are highly salient to current and ongoing social and political debates. The topic of this forum certainly fits this description, and the strength of views on the topic were demonstrated by the student protests that were held outside the event. Protesters objected to the inclusion of Dr. Melissa Moschella, an associate professor of philosophy at Catholic University, on the panel due to her views on abortion, race, and transgender issues.

As background, the DCI invites panelists to its Deliberative Forums in order to introduce attendees to diverse perspectives on the topic at hand and provide an opportunity for them to witness good argument and a thoughtful, respectful exchange of reasons between people who may disagree deeply. The DCI does NOT endorse the views of any of the panelists it invites but selects them based on the depth and relevance of their expertise to the topic under discussion.

The DCI is committed to the idea that listening to speakers with whom we disagree does not imply agreement; it suggests a willingness to seek out the truth together and to better understand one another’s perspective as fellow citizens with equal status at the table. Melissa Moschella and Derek Black, the event’s other invited panelist, are two of the most highly-qualified and well-published scholars who can speak to the contentious questions surrounding the role of schools and parents in educating children about social issues.

Given their diverse viewpoints, panelists like Dr. Moschella and Dr. Black may hold views that some citizens reasonably find offensive. The DCI is committed to creating spaces for people to engage with, evaluate, and challenge these positions in a productive and civil manner.

More generally, the DCI is committed to catalyzing creative, broadly-supported solutions to the major social challenges facing our community and society – including racism, sexism, and other forms of injustice – through the process of deliberation across differences.

The video of the event is posted below, and we invite everyone to view the panel discussion, which was moderated by Professor Dan Layman, an associate professor of philosophy at Davidson and a co-convener of the DCI. Dr. Layman asked direct questions of each panelist while also allowing them to follow-up on each other’s points. Their discussion was followed by an hour-long opportunity for attendees to engage with one another on these topics in discussions facilitated by the DCI’s trained facilitators. Periods when we had some technical difficulties (this was our first hybrid in-person/virtual event) and when the discussion was temporarily disrupted by protesters have been edited from the video; all comments from the panelists are still included.

DCI-Parents-and-Schools-Deliberation-Guide_9.26.22

The Davidson College Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, Davidson College Center for Civic Engagement, and North Mecklenburg Economic Mobility Collaborative hosted an online deliberative forum to discuss Economic Mobility: How Can the American Dream Be More Achievable for Everyone? 

Economic-Mobility-Forum-Poster

 

Check out the deliberation guide below:

DCI Economic Mobility Deliberation Guide

In November 2020, Harvard-based research group Opportunity Insights, led by Professor Raj Chetty, issued a report ranking Mecklenburg County 96th overall among the nation’s 100 largest counties for upward economic mobility. This came after a 2013 study from the same researchers named Charlotte last in economic mobility among the 50 largest metro areas in the United States. Nationally, people across the United States are beginning to question the concept of the American dream as income inequality rises, poverty deepens, and access to education and healthcare opportunities appear unequally distributed.

If the American dream does exist, how might we begin to understand this abstract concept? In our everyday lives, how do we define this idea of economic mobility, and what different ideas have been proposed to make it more achievable for everyone?

This DCI Deliberative Forum enabled participants to explore these important questions, first by hearing from a panel of three leading experts on this issue, and then by actively deliberating with one another in facilitated small group discussions on how best to understand and pursue economic mobility. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn from experts, listen to the perspectives of others, and share ideas about economic mobility.

Panelist Bios:

Sherri Chisholm is the Executive Director of Leading on Opportunity, a local non-profit organization created in 2017 that is dedicated to ensuring that “within a generation every child in Charlotte-Mecklenburg will have an equal chance to achieve social and economic success.” Ms. Chisholm joined the organization in 2020, after serving as the founding Executive Director of Urban Alliance Detroit and founder and CEO of FreeSpace Consulting Group. Holding master’s degrees in education from Harvard University and the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, Ms. Chisholm has worked as a management consultant and has also held leadership roles with Teach for America, the School District of Palm Beach County, FL, and the Fulton County School System in Metro-Atlanta.

Kieth Cockrell is the President of Bank of America Charlotte and also leads Bank of America’s efforts to leverage its resources to address social and economic concerns, build strong communities, and support the health and safety of its employees. He has worked at Bank of America for 28 years in leadership positions related to consumer and small business services, global technology and operations, and customer service. Mr. Cockrell has also served as vice chair of the bank’s Global Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council and received two D&I awards within the company. A current member of Davidson College’s Board of Visitors, he has also been an active community leader and has served on the boards of multiple local organizations, including My Brothers Keeper (Charlotte-Mecklenburg), the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, and the United Way.

Patrick Garry is a professor at the University of South Dakota’s School of Law and Director of the Hagemann Center for Legal & Public Policy Research. The author of over 40 scholarly articles and 22 books, Professor Garry has spoken and published extensively on poverty, limited government, and conservatism, including his books, The False Promise of Big Government: How Washington Helps the Rich and Hurts the Poor and Conservatism Redefined: A Creed for the Poor and Disadvantaged, and his essays, “Conservatism and the Real Problems of Income Inequality” and “Education as the Key to Opportunity and Upward Mobility.” Dr. Garry has also served as a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s School of Law and earned his JD and PhD from the University of Minnesota.

On Nov. 4, 2021, The Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI) hosted an online Deliberative Forum to discuss Free Speech and Inclusion: Are They in Conflict or Are They Complementary? How Should They Be Effectively Supported on College Campuses? This event included both an expert panel (moderated by Professor Dan Layman) and small group discussions (moderated by our trained DCI facilitators).

 

Check out the Event Deliberation Guide below:

Free Speech a

Campus communities today seek both free speech and inclusion for their members. Some believe that promoting freedom of expression and practicing inclusivity are reconcilable goals; others assert they are inherently in conflict. On one side of this debate are those who believe campus leaders have an obligation to protect students, particularly individuals from historically and currently marginalized groups, from potentially harmful speech. On the other side are those who assert that limiting speech stifles academic rigor and insulates students from engaging with varying perspectives, which undermines the mission of educational institutions.

Are free speech and inclusion indeed in tension with one another? What benefits and harms do they each potentially entail? Can they both be promoted and supported simultaneously? If so, how do we create campus communities that allow for academic rigor while also being sensitive to efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion? If not, which of these values should we prioritize? Important and timely though they are, these questions are hard to answer—or even to approach productively—if we disagree about what inclusion and free speech amount to in the first place. Thus, we must examine both inclusion and free speech themselves before taking up the purported tension between them.

This DCI Deliberative Forum enabled participants to do so, first by hearing from a panel of three leading experts on this issue, and then by actively deliberating with one another in facilitated small group discussions on how best to understand and pursue free speech and inclusion on college campuses. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn from experts, listen to the perspectives of others, and share ideas about free speech and inclusion.

Panelists include:

Keith Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (Princeton University Press, 2018) and numerous publications on American constitutional theory and history, judicial politics, and academic freedom, including “The Value of Ideological Diversity Among University Faculty” in Social Philosophy and Policy and “Free Speech and the Diverse University” in the Fordham Law Review. Professor Whittington received his BA from the University of Texas, Austin and his masters and PhD from Yale University.

Pareena Lawrence is Visiting Professor of Economics at Yale-NUS and a Senior Fellow at Yale University. She has served as the President of Hollins University and Provost at Augustana College. Professor Lawrence has extensive experience dealing with the nexus between inclusion and free speech on college campuses, which she discusses in an article she wrote for the Association of American Colleges and Universities, “When Core Values Collide: Diversity, Inclusion, and Free Speech.” Professor Lawrence received her Master of Arts in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Purdue University.

Susan Brison is the Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values and Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College and, in 2021-22, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. She is the author of Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self, co-editor of Contemporary Perspectives on Constitutional Interpretation and Free Speech in the Digital Age, and has written extensively on hate speech, trauma theory, and freedom of expression, including, most recently, “Free Speech Skepticism” in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal.

The panel discussion was moderated by Davidson College Associate Professor of Philosophy Dan Layman.