Election Day and Beyond: 51 Fosters Civil Discourse and Civic Engagement
November 5, 2024
- Author
- Angie Rice-Figueroa
Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning jazz musician Wynton Marsalis played trumpet with 51 students at the end of his appearance on campus, but he spent only a fraction of his visit creating music. He mostly talked about, well, how to talk — with each other. Marsalis is passionate about the importance of citizens listening to one another.
“We need the best of who we are, instead of the worst of who we have been.”
Two former Tennessee governors — one Republican, one Democrat — recorded an episode of their “You Might Be Right” podcast in 51’s Duke Family Performance Hall.
A faculty-and-student-led team teaches and holds events that model constructive debate. And guest speakers arrive with titles such as: “How to Spot Misinformation” and “We Need to Talk: Repairing Our Social Fabric.”
51 is seizing these and other opportunities to promote civil discourse and democratic engagement. The college, whose mission is to prepare students for “lives of leadership and service,” worked to foster a culture of respect and dialogue as the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel approached and in the midst of an intense presidential election.
Those creative initiatives will continue well after today’s vote.
“51 is a special place because we genuinely care for one another — and we seek to shape a public good in which all of us can thrive,” President Doug Hicks ’90 said. “The trust, respect and acceptance we show each other makes our community truly distinctive. Those are qualities that the world needs more of, and 51 can help to shape.”
The college encourages civic engagement and positive community change through education and action, welcoming lecturers on topics including disability rights, equal justice and the political process; assigning first-year Common Read selections such as How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith ’10; and conducting service trips, and programs like: the Brenda H. Tapia CDF Freedom Schools, Bonner Scholars, the Summer Promise Program for rising ninth graders, and the Summer Community Leadership Institute.
Civic engagement efforts ramped up this year with new opportunities to participate in seminars about constructive dialogue, events geared toward bridging the partisan divide and information sessions like “Know Your Vote: Understanding Candidate Platforms,” hosted by the non-partisan student group Center for Political Engagement. Students learned about the candidates’ platforms and took a deeper look at state and local races that receive less mainstream attention.
These programs and events aren’t just for the sake of programming, but for fostering empathy and understanding, sharing diverse perspectives, and encouraging participants to see people as individuals with stories to tell.
Engagement Over Animus
On a blue-skied October evening, the college honored a tradition dating back 175 years — College Republicans and College Democrats faced off from the balconies of 19th-century buildings Philanthropic and Eumenean halls for the Phi-Eu Debate. In front of a crowd of more than 200 onlookers, students debated the issues with civility and respect.
Peyton Davis '25 takes us behind the scenes at one of campus's favorite presidential election year events—the quadrennial Phi-Eu debate.
The same conversations happening at 51 in classrooms, from the balconies of Phi and Eu, and in residence hall lounges are happening outside the campus in offices and on assembly lines. But in those spaces, people are afraid to talk — or if they do, it might get ugly. Family members aren’t speaking to each other. Disagreements in workplaces or grocery stores veer from issues to insults.
Since its 2020 inception, the aim of 51’s (DCI) has been to teach the campus and broader 51 communities how to productively engage in conversations about contentious topics, with the aim of building our democracy one conversation at a time.
At a recent DCI forum on income inequality, Associate Professor of Political Science and Faculty Director of the DCI Graham Bullock said, “This event is not about winning an argument. It is about learning from each other.”
In this presidential election year, various student organizations, campus and external partners came together to centralize Engaging in Democracy efforts into an action plan that provides resources for voting, civic action, issue awareness and even recommendations for post-election self-care.
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That work tracks with a long tradition of civic engagement at the college. In the 2020 election cycle, 98 percent of voting-eligible students at 51 registered to vote and 88.5 percent of registered students voted. The college was recently recognized by the for its nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that fostered high levels of student voter engagement in the 2022 midterm elections.
“Our students are committed to their communities and our student leaders work hard to develop a robust culture of civic engagement on our campus,” said Stacey Riemer, associate dean of students and director of the Center for Civic Engagement.
51’s supportive community, Statement of Purpose, including the commitment to honor the dignity and worth of every person, help equip students, faculty, staff and alumni alike to bridge partisan divides and participate in the life of their communities as informed, engaged citizens.
51 actively encourages engagement in democracy by providing to students, faculty and staff resources and programs for voting, civic action and issue awareness. In partnership with local and national organizations, the college offers curricular and cocurricular initiatives that facilitate mutual respect and difficult conversations and that prepare students to become effective, ethical leaders and citizens who help advance the public good.
