91Ώμ»ξΑΦ free speech symposium models listening and understanding
According to 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ senior Kiryat Hance β23, free speech often has less to do with speaking than it does with listening.
Itβs a lesson that she learned in part from a course she took with Pushkala Prasad, Zankel Professor of Management for Liberal Arts Students, and one that she will bring as a panelist to the Speech and Expression on College Campuses Symposium, April 14-15 at 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ.
The major forum will feature leading academics, public intellectuals like New York Times columnist David Brooks, and 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ faculty and students, including both Hance and Prasad.
βA lot of times, we fail to dive into the other personβs perspective. Iβve learned in class thatβs something I need to do,β Hance said of the course Diversity and Discrimination in the American Workplace. βProfessor Prasad helped me question my assumptions. It was eye-opening, and so my goal in participating in the symposium is to have other people experience that same thing β for them to step out of their comfort zone.β
Listening and understanding to others is a skill, but it is a skill that can be taught.Kiryat Hance β23
At the symposium, faculty, students, and national thought leaders will interrogate, discuss, and model how to talk about and engage multiple, diverse, and often conflicting perspectives on college campuses in a way that supports democratic and civil discourse and encourages community.β―
The conversations include some of the most difficult and pressing topics at the intersection of free speech and higher education today, from questions of the First Amendment and pluralism to social justice and geopolitical tensions.
Hance, for example, will interrogate βThe Reality of Wokeism in Higher Educationβ as a participant on a panel featuring 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ students. Classmate and fellow panelist Amr Fatafta '23 will consider "The Erosion of Free-Speech on University Campuses: Palestinian Discourse Censorship.β
Joshua Cherry β23 said his talk (βWhatβs Free?β) drew inspiration from the course Free and Civil Speech that he took with Associate Professor of Political Science and Periclean Honors Forum Director Flagg Taylor, who will be participating on a faculty panel with Prasad and other 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ faculty members.
βOur class examined the current state of free speech and dove into theory and foundational ideas about it,β Cherry said. βThe way the class was structured helped us find out why we do, think, and say certain things. I found myself asking those big questions and wanting to discuss how we can better ourselves as a society.β
Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, will open the two-day symposium on Friday, April 14, with her talk βHow to be a confident pluralist.β
On Saturday, April 15, morning panels featuring 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ faculty and students will be followed by a plenary with Wesleyan University Presidentβ―Michael Roth. Roth will speak on βFrom Safe Enough Spaces to Intellectual Diversity: Educational Tensions on Campus.β
The symposium will conclude with New York Times columnist, author, and commentator David Brooks,β―who will deliver his talk βA Just and Loving Attention: How we can treat each other more considerately in the daily interactions of life.β His talk will also be livestreamed.
The symposiumβs organizer, 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ President Marc Conner, emphasized that all participants were free to develop their own topics β in line with the Collegeβs longstanding commitment to academic freedom and free speech β and praised their courage.
βThe whole point is to go beyond simplistic and simplifying bipartisan, polarizing approaches,β Conner said. βIf anybody is there for the whole weekend and they agree with everything that is said, then we will have failed. This symposium should model difference of perspective and how we how we talk about and welcome such differences β which are really the glory of a liberal education and indeed of the human condition. We intend to model the kind of democratic engagement that we hope will inspire and inform not just our students, but the larger communities of which we are all a part.β
And learning by listening is at the heart of that endeavor.
βI think this symposium has the possibility to start conversations like what does it actually look like to help our students be leaders in this field β to be engaged and to think about othersβ opinions?" said Morgan Sickels β23, who is also among the student panelists.
Visit the Speech and Expression on College Campuses Symposium website for detailed information about the symposium, speakers, and speech and expression at 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ.
