Introducing the New Bridging Divides Series
February 22, 2024
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
It is with pride that I introduce Trinity’s new Bridging Divides series, which is designed to promote small group discussions about challenging topics that are shaping our viewpoints but also dividing our society. This new series will empower our small residential college community to come together, bridge divides across a range of identities and ideologies, and reject far-too-common paradigms that unnecessarily increase tensions between groups.
A critical part of Trinity’s mission is to prepare students to be bold, independent thinkers; this is some of the most important work we can do for our society. As a liberal arts college that encourages and welcomes a diversity of opinions, Trinity has the power and obligation to promote civic discourse and encourage thoughtful debate in a manner that is rooted in deep analysis, pluralism, and respectful conversations. Our students are taught to analyze carefully, draw evidence-based conclusions, and express independent opinions. Given the importance of and need for this kind of elevated conversation at such a critical moment in history, Trinity’s mission becomes even more crucial if we are to promote conflict resolution, understanding, and a path toward progress.
For me, bridging societal divides has been a sustained commitment. It was in 2015 that I first made the call for Trinity’s Campaign for Community, in which I stated “Our members should readily engage across the aisle and realize the full inclusion of all members of the Trinity community.” In 2018, our community engaged in a series of events and conversations that grappled with debates on free speech, academic freedom, privilege, diversity, and race. Also, in 2019, Trinity College was selected as the site for National Public Radio’s StoryCorps series, entitled One Small Step Bridges Political Divides at Trinity College. The series, archived in the Library of Congress, brought together members of our community with different political views to interview each other on the Trinity campus. These stories resulted in a deeper understanding and, for many participants, a recommitment to active listening and civic discourse.
Today’s launch of the Bridging Divides series is our next step to build community and to highlight important issues in today’s electric social and political climate – and to model how to disagree without animosity, listen empathetically, and just maybe, change our minds based on the evidence we hear. The series will bring together small groups of students (and other community members) with prominent speakers who represent very different, sometimes controversial, points of view on a particular topic. Whenever possible, we will ask the invited speakers to participate in a more public event, for example, a podcast, a public interview, or a webinar that would be available for a broader audience.
Our first Bridging Divides conversation will be in March with Aaron David Miller, a Middle East analyst and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Our second conversation will follow the Connecticut Forum dialogue between Liz Cheney and Ezra Klein called “On Defending Democracy and Finding Our Path Forward.” Our third conversation in April will bring together professors Mira Sucharov and Omar Dajani who will engage in a conversation about the conflict in the Middle East. Stay tuned for more information.
Today, I would also like to invite your input on topics you’d like us to consider and/or individuals that you’d like to see invited to Trinity, as part of the series, and why. Please let me know by contacting [email protected], my special assistant. The topics chosen will help inform who is invited, so don’t be surprised if an invitation comes across your transit this year or next. You may be invited to join me in bold conversation across difficult boundaries.
Sincerely,
Joanne Berger-Sweeney
President and Trinity College Professor of Neuroscience
