Rollins College

Food is a unifier. It’s easier to find common ground while sharing a meal with someone with a different perspective than when embroiled in a social media debate or a heated protest. Universities are turning to dialogue dinners to unite campus actors across generations and from different ideological standpoints. Often led by a trained facilitator, these dinners get people talking about pressing issues of our time and more theoretical questions about personal values.

Rollins College and The Institute for Citizens & Scholars will host John Dewey, 90 Years Later: How the Liberal Arts Strengthen Democracy, a national conference examining urgent issues in higher education.

Inaugural progress report highlights the remarkable strides college presidents have made in fostering free expression, critical inquiry, and civil discourse during an exceptionally challenging year for higher education.

The two-day conference will feature a series of panels that examine critical challenges confronting democracy, liberal arts education, and free inquiry in the United States.

Faculty are provided the resources, support, and opportunities to hear and work with experts and one another and to apply and practice civil discourse.

College presidents reference the civic commitments in their convocation speeches.

Participating presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments.

Dispatch from the from the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness convening at Howard University.

From facilitating guest lectures to introducing faculty training on civil discourse and creating student programming around civic skills, participating institutions are recentering their commitment to developing thoughtful, effective citizens.

Media highlights of the launch of Campus Call for Free Expression.

Check out media highlights from the launch of Campus Call for Free Expression.

Presidents from public flagship universities, Ivy-plus campuses, HBCUs, STEM-focused schools, liberal arts colleges, and faith-based institutions are uniting to prepare today’s youth to be well-informed, engaged, and committed citizens