Deliberative Citizenship Initiative

Building Democracy One Conversation at a Time

The DCI Blog

The DCI’s Spring Kickoff Party – Biggest Turnout Ever!

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Davidson students gathering at a round table discussion

This past Friday, the DCI started off the new year with some fantastic energy when it held its Spring Semester Kickoff Party. Over 50 people came out to enjoy some pizza and conversation about a wide range of topics. They included Davidson students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members, some of whom had never heard of the DCI and others who were DCI veterans.

Attendees filled up tables in the College Union’s Atrium that were dedicated to different topics – Davidson Issues, Technology and Social Media Issues, International Issues, US Politics, Economic Issues, and more. DCI Fellows facilitated informal discussions of questions related to each table’s topics, aided by copies of the DCI’s Conversation Agreements and Deliberative Dispositions that were available as placemats at each table. For the adventurous, there were a couple of “mystery tables” where questions from a wide range of domains were discussed.

Every 15 minutes or so, the DCI’s Faculty Director and Assistant Director spoke briefly about upcoming DCI events and offered some deliberative tips to the attendees. At each interlude, one attendee was randomly selected to win a prize from the DCI for attending the event. And then the conversations continued! Participants could stay at their table or switch between tables to try out different topics.

It was a great way for students to connect with each other as well as engage with faculty, staff, and community members. And everyone got to experience a deeper and more respectful kind of conversation than they might normally have in our highly polarized and politically fragmented society. It provided a window into what the DCI is focused on – building democracy, one conversation at a time – and a gateway to other DCI programs, including our Spring D Teams on Education Issues (registration deadline January 25) and upcoming Deliberative Forum on AI (registration deadline January 31).

A Deliberative Forum on Artificial Intelligence

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Are you curious about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is reshaping our world? Our Deliberative Forum on AI is designed for all of us to deliberate about the important questions posed by the recent breakthroughs in this technology. Whether you’re a computer science expert, a die-hard humanities lover, a doomsayer, a techno-optimist, or just want to learn more about what AI is and how we should live with it going forward, we invite you to join us on Monday, February 5th from 5-7 PM in the Lilly Gallery in person (or via Zoom)!

Who is hosting the Deliberative Forum?

The Deliberative Citizenship Initiative is excited to be co-hosting this event with Davidson’s Office of Technology and Innovation, Computer Science Department, Digital Studies Department and the Bonner Scholars Program.

What can you expect at the Deliberative Forum?

We will have a panel discussion for the first hour of the forum, in which three panelists will discuss what they take to be the most promising and the most concerning aspects of AI today and in the future. Following the panel discussion, participants will have small group discussions that will be facilitated by our DCI Fellows.

Who will be there?

  • Damien Williams is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. He studies philosophy, comparative religion, magic, artificial intelligence, human physical and mental augmentation, pop culture, and how they all relate. He teaches courses including Modeling and Society, Data and Society and Disability, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, and much of his research focuses on the relationship between AI and bias as well as AI and consciousness. He has published articles on artificial intelligence in Wired, American Scientist, and the Journal of Responsible Innovation, among other outlets. Dr. Williams earned his PhD in Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech and a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Georgia State University.
  • Lauren Kahn is a Senior Research Analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) focused on national security applications of artificial intelligence. Prior to CSET, she was a Research Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) within the National Security and Defense and Digital and Cyberspace Policy Programs, where she worked on defense innovation and the impact of emerging technologies on international security, with a particular emphasis on AI. Her work has appeared in outlets including Foreign Affairs, Lawfare, War on the Rocks, AI & Society, and the Journal forConflict Resolution, and has been featured in The Economist. Lauren holds a master’s in computer and information technology and a B.A. in international relations, both from the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Richard Boyd is a tech entrepreneur and expert on AI, machine learning, virtual worlds, computer gaming, and human/computer interfaces. He is the co-founder and CEO of AI and machine learning company Tanjo AI, which is dedicated to helping companies and individuals achieve a balance between human and machine effort and intelligence. Richard is also the co-founder and CEO of Ultisim Inc., a simulation learning company that utilizes gaming technology and AI. He works with a wide variety of industries including energy, healthcare, defense, education, and motion pictures, and he has been instrumental in creating several pioneering computer gaming companies including Red Storm Entertainment with author Tom Clancy; iRock Entertainment with Ozzy Osbourne; and Timeline Computer Entertainment with author Michael Crichton. 

  • Dr. Sara Copic, Assistant Director of the DCI, will be moderating the panel. Dr. Copic specializes in the philosophy of language with a focus on linguistic competence. She is an affiliate researcher of the UNC AI Project, and she will be teaching a WRI 101 course in the spring called, “AI: Its Nature and Significance,” which will focus on the ways large language models work, whether they can understand meaning, how this technology may be socially transformative, and what risks it may pose to humanity.

When and where is it happening?

The forum will take place on February 5, 2024 from 5-7 PM in the Lilly Gallery in Chambers Hall. There will also be a Zoom option.

How do I sign up?

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Sign up here (be sure to indicate if you are attending in person or via Zoom). We hope to see you there!

Join us for a DCI Spring Semester Kickoff Party!

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On Friday, January 19th from 5-7 pm, the DCI is hosting its Spring 2024 Kickoff Party! We will be in the Alvarez-Brown Atrium at the Alvarez College Union, and we welcome you to join us for an evening of connection, deliberation, and fun! We’ll have pizza, prizes, and some engaging deliberative activities in which you’ll be able to engage with members of our Davidson community on both local and national topics of concern. It’s a great way to kick off the new year and connect with others who are interested in building community and improving our public discourse.

This event is intended to bring together those who have already been involved with the DCI in some way with people who may not have had an opportunity yet to engage in our programming or would like to learn more about us. If you completed our Deliberation Facilitator Training in the past, have taken part in any of our Deliberative Forums or D Teams we would love for you to join us and help show others what the DCI is all about.

If you’ve never been to a DCI event or want to participate more but don’t know how to get involved, this is a perfect opportunity to learn more from the DCI community. Students, staff, faculty, community members, alums and family members are all welcome! We’ll share a bit about our plans for the upcoming semester – we’ve got some great events and activities on the calendar for 2024!

We hope you’ll decide to join us for our Kickoff Party! Feel free to drop in any time, bring a friend, and enjoy some free pizza! Registration is not required but an RSVP is appreciated for our planning purposes.

How We Can Use Arguments to Learn From One Another

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People discussing at a round table

Stephen Walker ’26 (DCI Fellow)

Arguments are difficult. Whether stemming from our own personal attachments to ideas or a fear of criticism and negative social outcomes, people often tend to stigmatize arguments as impolite, irrational drains on our emotional well-being that only serve to produce tension and animosity between the parties involved. In my own experience, I have faced such feelings of hopelessness, of innately distressing conversations bound to go nowhere. Contentious arguments can give one the feeling they are fighting for the sake of fighting and nothing more. But this does not have to be so. Argument can be one of the most meaningful forms of positive interaction individuals can engage in with one another.

The DCI’s deliberative framework and the constructive norms our Fellows cohort has been exposed to have reconfigured my entire perception of how one ought to engage in argument and what they should hope to get out of it. One of our required readings for the program, Why We Argue (And How We Should) by Scott Aikin and Robert Talisse, details two sweeping norms for augment that I have relied on through my work to improve my relational and facilitator abilities: argumentative earnestness and argumentative responsibility.

Argumentative earnestness and responsibility have allowed me and other practitioners who utilize them to guide arguments away from zero sum competitions aimed at forcing one person to concede entirely to the other side through manipulation and distractions toward a positive, holistic exploration of issues at large and an informative pursuit of truth.

Aikin and Talisse describe argumentative earnestness as our duties to pay close attention to evaluating the reasons placed before us to justify a position or a view. By blocking out the noise–pressures to win, manipulative rhetoric, bias, and distractions–and evaluating arguments based on the reasons and logic behind them, the merit of a point can be more clearly established and progress can be made in what would otherwise be a contentious, stagnant process.

Argumentative earnestness takes what Aikin and Talisse label “intellectual courage,” or the courage to not just focus on the truth when others try to pressure you away from it but to also realize you may be biased and misleading others. It takes intellectual courage to admit that, much like the other side, you too can use flawed arguments in pursuit of winning rather than the truth. Going beyond holding the other side in arguments to such scrutiny by holding yourself to equally high, if not higher standards, can ensure you are constantly improving the quality of the arguments you produce.

Argumentative earnestness on its own is not enough to ensure a successful argument. Looking at the variety of reasons that may go into one side or another regarding a particular topic will round out your arguments to a fuller extent. Looking beyond what may be the widely preferred or most obvious reasons for holding a belief, we find out that there can be many reasons for taking a specific stance on a specific issue.

When we try to empathize with those who might take these different positions, regardless of whether we agree with them or not, it allows us to engage with the other side to the fullest extent possible. When we engage with the full, honest perception we have of the other side’s stance we can either learn and change our own perspectives on an issue or develop more robust responses than we would otherwise be capable of when engaging with simplified reasons. In this way, argumentative responsibility inspires learning and is essential to productive argument.

In my work as a deliberation facilitator, I am sometimes tasked with playing devil’s advocate by taking on the role of the other side when everyone in a deliberation agrees on an issue and the conversation reaches a stand-still. Without engaging in argumentative earnestness and responsibility, it could be very hard to be the sole advocate for another perspective that one sometimes may not even agree with themselves. Embodying these principles in my attempts at being a better devil’s advocate has allowed me to focus on the reasons behind competing stances, encouraging people to examine their views in ways that would not be possible without such a focus on reason over confrontation.

Playing devil’s advocate to urge members of my deliberation groups to consider opposing arguments has been a truly fruitful exercise to watch play out. People not only willingly consider the full scope of reasons behind views they may have otherwise immediately rejected, but they learn how to better respond to such reasons and enhance their reasoning processes. This can allow deliberators to examine their views, thus enhancing their ability to reason through and properly weigh the merit of counterarguments they may face for the stances they take on various issues. It also allows them to build up the courage to admit when they may be wrong or faced with superior reasoning.

In my experience, when we try to exercise argumentative earnestness and responsibility in our efforts to deliberate, we tend to learn more, have better arguments, and have a better chance of unlocking the truth. This allows us to not only be aware of the flaws in the stances we take but to make clear to others in a constructive, rather than hostile way, the problems in the reasoning that they present. Better arguments make better-informed citizens and by leaning into not just argumentation but constructive norms, we learn and grow in ways that would not otherwise be possible. We learn and grow as a community of citizens unified by our pursuit of truth.

Spring 2024 D Teams

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This spring the DCI is excited to host its eighth round of D Teams! The focus of the teams’ discussions will be on the three topics of major public concern related to education. Read more below to learn more — Registration for Spring 2024 D Teams is open from January 11th until January 25th, 2024 (Know you want to sign up? Register here.).

What are D Teams?

D Teams are small teams of about 6-10 people that meet three times per semester in order to discuss contentious topics in productive ways, and to pave the way toward catalyzing creative solutions to difficult problems in the public sphere. D Teams may meet in person or virtually.

A few things make the D Team experience unique compared to other discussions about controversial topics. First, D Team discussions are facilitated by a DCI Fellow who has been trained in the kind of facilitation that leads to good discussions. Second, D Team participants get access to deliberation guides designed specifically for each topic that they discuss. And third, D Teams provide an opportunity to connect meaningfully with others beyond one’s immediate social or professional circle. You can learn more about the background and structure of this program here.

It was my first DCI experience, and I was not sure quite what to expect. I was one of 2 non-students on our team, and part of the draw to participate was to hear and learn from current students how they think and feel about such a difficult, complex, politically-charged topic. It was an enlightening and encouraging experience; I came away more hopeful, and impressed by the DCI initiative.

—D Team Participant

What are the topics of discussion for Spring 2024?

The Spring 2024 topics all relate, in one way or another, to the concept of education. D Teams will deliberate about public education and school vouchers, grades and standardized tests, and college admissions.

Education is something we all value to some extent, and yet we disagree about what kinds of education policies should be implemented. We disagree about the purpose of public education, about how to measure the effectiveness of our educational system, and who ought to be admitted to particular educational institutions. And the way we answer these questions depends on our ideas about the general aim of an education, the difference between public and private education, and perhaps even broader questions about justice, equality, and freedom.

In spring 2024, we will therefore be investigating education and its relationship with other values, while paying attention to the particular details each issue below presents. Spring D Team members will have the opportunity to discuss the following questions:

(1) Public Education and School Vouchers: When should parents be granted vouchers to pay for private schools, if ever?

This discussion will first focus on the purpose and function of public education: Why do taxpayer dollars go to support public schools? What are the motivations and expectations associated with this support? Then we will turn to the more specific topic of school vouchers, which enable students to use public money to attend private schools. The use of such vouchers has become increasingly common in recent years, and North Carolina recently expanded their use to allow a broader range of families to make use of them. D Teams will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of vouchers, who they may most benefit and most harm, and under what conditions they should be supported or resisted.  

(2) Grades and Standardized Tests: How should student learning and excellence be assessed and measured, if at all?

Public and private school advocates share a common challenge – identifying to what extent educational institutions are accomplishing the goals they are designed to achieve. Grades and standardized tests are the most common means to measure student and school performance. In this discussion, participants will explore the strengths and limitations of both types of metrics, and they will discuss whether and in what contexts they are most useful and appropriate. They will also deliberate about what assessment policies students, teachers, parents, and policymakers should advocate for in both K-12 and higher education settings. This conversation will both build on the previous discussion about school vouchers and flow into the next one on college admissions.

(3) College Admissions: How should American colleges and universities make admissions decisions in the future?

In the summer of 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the race-conscious admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This decision has led colleges and universities across the United States to reconsider how they will determine who is eligible for admission to their institutions. What new or different criteria should they use or weight more strongly given the Court’s prohibition against using race as a factor in admissions? D Teams will address this question by first discussing what the goals of admissions processes should be and then by deliberating about different strategies to achieve those goals. 

Why did we choose these topics?

The DCI solicited feedback on potential topics that were suggested by the DCI Fellows and former D Team participants via a survey that was shared within the Davidson community and the DCI’s online community — our blog and newsletter subscribers and Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter followers. These topics were among the top choices that our survey respondents were interested in discussing, and they are all timely in their own ways. Finally, although the topics are substantively different, they all present an opportunity to engage with pressing public debate about education in America.

I was very grateful to have this kind of opportunity to have these conversations in a context where I knew I shared something with all other participants even though we are in many different stages and paths in life.

—D Team Participant

How do I sign up?

Registration for spring 2024 D Teams is open from January 11th to 25th, 2024. Sign up today and help us build a better democracy, one conversation at a time.