Civility Initiative Events Promote Healthy Disagreement and Dialogue

The College of Charleston established the Civility Initiative in 2023 to promote communal engagement, sustained dialogue and healthy disagreement.

“We’re incredibly excited about the future of the Civility Initiative,” says Mike Lee, professor of communication, director of graduate studies and director of the College of Charleston Civility Initiative. “The College of Charleston and the wider community have been incredibly supportive of the Civility Initiative’s work to promote healthy disagreement and dialogue across differences. We’re looking forward to a variety of upcoming events, including documentary screenings, research presentations and discussion panels. Additionally, we’re really enthused about the February debut of our new podcast, When We Disagree.”

The first Civility Initiative event of 2024, Who Should You Trust for News?, is a panel discussion and screening of Trustworthy, a documentary that chronicles a 5,300-mile journey across America to explore how the growing crisis of trust in media threatens democracy and to search for common ground. The panel will feature Stephany Zamora, executive producer of Trustworthy; Jim Hickey, retired international correspondent for ABC News and current chair of the College of Charleston Department of Communication National Advisory Council; and Sydney Long, a senior Honors student majoring in political science and minoring in communication. The event is 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, in room 129 of the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering Building.

Other upcoming events include the following:

Bridging Differences
Feb. 13, 4–5 p.m.
Beatty Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium

Bridging Differences is a research presentation featuring Alice Siu, associate director of the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford.

Healthy Conflict in Personal Relationships
Feb. 14, 12:30–1:45 p.m.
Stern Center Ballroom

Healthy Conflict in Personal Relationships is a panel discussion with staff from the Counseling Center and faculty from the communications and psychology departments.

Christian Nationalism and Democratic Crisis
Feb. 22, 4–5:30 p.m.
Beatty Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium

Christian Nationalism and Democratic Crisis is a discussion with Randall Balmer, prize-winning historian and author of over a dozen books about religion in America.