These are tumultuous times in American society—and the nation’s college campuses reflect many sharp disagreements about politics, group identities, and social change. This Institute is intended to address major issues that drive today’s unrest on campus, including protests directed at public policy, social inequity, bias, and identity that sometimes become disruptive or even violent. While many institutions have responded with new institutional policies or an emphasis on calming students’ emotional responses, this Institute offers a very different approach. The Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute draws on the most precious resource that independent colleges and universities have to understand human behavior: teaching and learning in the liberal arts.
During the four-day Institute, teams of faculty members and administrators from CIC member institutions will come together with a group of highly distinguished scholars to:
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Explore significant trends that are reshaping the 21st-century campus, including demographic changes, changes in how students learn in a digital world, and new challenges to academic expertise.
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Engage both classic and cutting-edge scholarship—in history, economics, linguistics, psychology, religion, sociology, and other disciplines—that will frame discussions of controversial topics and equip participants to transform protests into teachable moments. Participants will learn what leading scholars in other disciplines consider to be basic understandings about race, gender, and other identities; historical interpretation and authority; social justice; social and political change; the hidden effects of language and stereotyping; inclusive pedagogy; and free speech issues.
- Develop realistic plans to enable their institutions to
strengthen diversity and civility on campus, both inside and outside the classroom.
Who Should Participate?
The Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute is intended for CIC member colleges and universities that have experienced episodes of student unrest, that might experience student protest, that have students who are concerned about issues of equity and social change, or that are facing the challenges of diversity and civility.
Diversity and civility are important on every campus. But college students don’t always know how to talk about issues that are painful or may make them angry—and sometimes both students and instructors need to know more about the context and history of potentially controversial and emotional topics. This Institute will focus on applying recent scholarship and enduring concepts to current student concerns, empowering participants to design effective knowledge-based campus interventions.”
—Beverly Daniel Tatum
Director, Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute
President Emerita, Spelman College