SNF Agora Community Workshop: Civic Discourse on Campus

Description

Leila Brammer, director of outreach and instructional development for the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse at The University of Chicago and a 2024–25 SNF Agora Visiting Fellow, will lead this SNF Agora Community Workshop on "Civic Discourse on Campus."

This is a hybrid event; to attend virtually, use the Zoom link. Lunch will be provided to in-person attendees.

Civic discourse education is integral to building a strong, inclusive, and productive public sphere. By focusing on discursive practices and conditions necessary to create inclusive and productive discursive spaces, community members can engage, test ideas, collaborate, develop and implement evidence-based interventions, and advocate for their needs. Utilizing a theoretical framework and collective best practices, discursive approaches that have a potential to transform our politics, our communities, and us, as individuals, can be easily adapted into courses and student life experiences. Rich models for how to embed and translate these practices exist across various disciplines, courses, and programs, including first-year seminars, humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, orientation, student leadership, and residential life. Grounding courses and programs in practices of engaging about, with, and across difference and disagreement improves the experience and the learning. Integrating and elevating productive and inclusive discursive practices potently transforms individuals and institutions, providing the means for us to live and work together and preparing us to productively meet challenges and crises. Discourse is foundational to civics education, and also improves the educational reach across other student learning outcomes.