Nine Area Colleges Unite to Hold Virtual Series on Civility, Respect Amid Rise of Islamophobia, Antisemitism
The webinar series being planned by nine Boston area universities and colleges will provide an opportunity to talk about civility, respect, and disinformation. Photo by Above Summit
Nine Area Colleges Unite to Hold Virtual Series on Civility, Respect Amid Rise of Islamophobia, Antisemitism
BU joins Harvard, BC, Brandeis, Northeastern, and others in series of faculty-led discussions
In a show of solidarity, nine Boston area universities and colleges are collaborating on a series of webinars, starting Monday, January 29, featuring their expert faculty talking about civility, respect, and disinformation, at a time when antisemitism and Islamophobia are roiling higher education campuses.
The participating institutions, along with Boston University, are Northeastern, Harvard, Brandeis, Wellesley College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College, and Tufts. The series, which was initiated by the participating institutions’ presidents, with an organizing committee put together by their provosts, is being called Dialogue and Action in an Age of Divides: A Panel Series Organized by Nine Massachusetts Universities.
“It’s a really nice opportunity to have hard conversations, rather than fewer conversations,” says Jeremy Menchik, an associate professor of international relations at BU’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and director of BU’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. Menchik is serving as BU’s representative on the panel series. “We hope to have frank, nuanced, and productive conversations about antisemitism and Islamophobia,” he says, “and we’re hopeful for cascading effects about Israel and Palestine and activism on campuses today and how it’s changed.”
Four multi-university educational events in total are being planned, with the first two already scheduled and the second two scheduled, but still in the planning stages.
The first event, on Monday, will focus on hate and free speech, with panelists discussing the significance and importance of maintaining free speech on campuses, while at the same time acknowledging its limitations in the context of talking about identity-based racism. The second event, planned for Tuesday, February 13, will explore the idea of finding common ground across political divides and personal identities. The last two events are scheduled for February 27 (Constructive Dialogue in the Age of Social Media) and March 25 (Civilians and War).
“It’s the first time nine Boston area institutions will get together to have collective conversations and to search for common ground,” Menchik says. He notes that the process of organizing the series has been interesting and not without challenges, as each institution brings its own priorities and concerns, which may not always neatly align with those of neighboring institutions. “We have nine different campus cultures, all trying to find common ground,” he says.
But in the end, Menchik says, the leaders from each of the nine colleges and universities recognize that academic freedoms are too often coming under attack and that it’s paramount for discussions like these to take place during the time of an upcoming and polarizing presidential election.
At the end of each webinar, moderators will take questions from the virtual audience members.
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