5 takeaways from last week’s event on civic engagement

Universities have an important role to play in advancing civic discourse, creating space for debate and bringing people together, said Carissa Slotterback, at a Nov. 7 event, “A Conversation on the Role of Universities in Civic Preparedness.”

Slotterback, dean and professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, facilitated a conversation between Rajiv Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to youth civic learning, civic engagement and diversity in higher education, and Kristin Kanthak, associate professor of political science in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Science.

The event was in support of Pitt’s Year of Discourse and Dialogue programming, and it covered a range of topics, including young people’s views of democracy and what students can do to build public trust in higher education.

“I've had the absolute privilege to serve as co-chair of the Year of Discourse and Dialogue along with Clyde Wilson Pickett, our vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion,” Slotterback said in her opening remarks. “We've made it clear that every single one of us in this university has a role to play in living our commitments as an institution, to advance civic discourse, offer spaces for debate and bring people together.”

Here are five key takeaways from the discussion.

We need to be prepared

Slotterback began the conversation with the concept of civic preparedness, rather than civic participation or other more common terms.

“If we're prepared, we're centering our knowledge, our willingness to talk to other people, and our willingness to just be really curious about other people,” said Kanthak. “That's what is exciting about it. Civic preparedness is telling you to connect with other people.”

Kanthak related the idea of civic preparedness to earthquake preparedness. When a challenge arises, people need to react appropriately, she said. It’s a matter of being informed and understanding that we’re all in this together. We have to rely on each other to get things done, she added.

How to really be engaged

Civic preparedness involves three elements, Vinnakota said. First, people need to understand how government functions, engage with multiple news sources and know how to identify misinformation. Second, they must productively engage for the common good, which includes voting but also requires a deeper investment in one's community, like volunteering, mentoring or even running for office. These serve to create opportunities to interact with people of differing beliefs and deepen understanding. Lastly is a commitment to democracy. People must trust in institutions and be optimistic that liberty and justice can prevail.

[Do you have an idea for improving discourse at Pitt? Submit a proposal by Dec. 6 to get up to $5,000 in funding through the Year of Discourse and Dialogue.]

Performative culture is a problem

We increasingly live in a culture that creates incentives for saying things that get attention rather than understanding what a policy actually says, Vinnakota said. There’s a fundamental misalignment between what politicians are getting incentivized to do versus what we need them to do in order to have good government.

Language matters

One of the greatest challenges facing higher education is teaching students to communicate with the public using accessible language, said Kanthak. Students learn buzzwords in college classrooms that don’t always translate when interacting with communities, and that erodes the public’s trust in the value of universities. We can all be more mindful of the words we use to increase understanding, she said.

Data on democracy

Vinnakota sees hope for the future of democracy based on a 2023 study on the civic outlook of people ages 18 to 24 conducted by his organization, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. Researchers found that the surveyed population was twice as interested in engaging with people of different viewpoints and understanding those perspectives as the general population.

Another finding: About 50% of the young people surveyed define American democracy as being based on equality, justice and fairness, what he sees as a values-based mindset.

Photography by Aimee Obidzinski