Fostering civic engagement on campus
Initiative provides civic discourse training for students to facilitate conversations, reflections, resource shares
By JAMIE ABELL on July 8, 2024
The Office of Civic Engagement & Social Responsibility (CESR) provides everyone at 快活视频the chance to connect, cultivate and co-create to empower social change. Through its Civic Renewal Initiative, CESR has enhanced its efforts to foster democratic engagement on campus. Through the Civic Renewal Fellowship, housed within the initiative, students undergo a year-long training program that teaches restorative practices and dialogue (civic discourse) to prepare them to facilitate conversations about current events effectively.
鈥淲hen students can respectfully and effectively engage in civic discourse using dialogue and restorative practices, they can learn how to solve problems and build trust within their community,鈥� says Charis Lawson, coordinator for civic engagement. 鈥淲e want to empower student fellows to encourage their classmates, roommates, teammates, coworkers鈥攚hoever they may come across at 快活视频and beyond鈥攖o come together and understand the systems that create and sustain challenging societal problems. Then we want them to lead the way in addressing the challenges and finding solutions.鈥�
In partnership with the Office of Student Accountability & Restorative Practices, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Inclusion & Institutional Equity, each student in the fellowship receives weekly facilitator trainings. They include presentations on topics related to civic discourse, identity, healthy communication skills and more. Each cohort is selected at the end of the academic year.
According to current 快活视频student and Civic Renewal Fellow Jamie Voytsekhovska, "The Civic Renewal Initiative is important because it is nonpartisan, its implementation at Towson University ensures that young adults receive the tools they need to become agents of change and it promotes a much-needed collectivist culture in American education.鈥�
The Civic Renewal Initiative also consists of programs, led by student fellows like Voytsekhovska, that engage the entire 快活视频community in civic discourse related to current local, national and global issues.
"The purpose of these tools are not to change the opinions of those around us but to give a platform to students and increase our understanding of each other. It is a space to learn more about where someone comes from when they speak about issues important to them," says Voytsekhovska. "When we misunderstand each other, we rob ourselves of opportunities for connection; we become isolated, misinformed and distrustful."
快活视频Community Conversations
The program focuses on pressing issues that impact the 快活视频campus and includes a panel discussion and listening circles. Last year, this conversation provided an opportunity for members of the community to learn about the implications of housing security on campus and work to advance an institution in which every person can thrive.
The panel is comprised of 快活视频faculty, staff and students who describe current efforts and challenges related to the issue. Civic renewal fellows then engage participants in guided listening circles to share their own connection to the issue and envision collective paths forward.
快活视频Resource Shares
This program provides students with tools and resources to be active participants in civic and community life in connection with a current event. Resource shares typically include information about how to navigate misinformation, care for self, promote collective safety, respond to bias, find community on campus and beyond and participate in political advocacy. Members of the 快活视频community can learn how to navigate world events and engage with resource topic experts during table conversations facilitated by civic renewal fellows.
快活视频Collective Reflections
This program consists of a listening circle that allows for the campus community to come together and reflect on a particular issue. Civic Renewal Fellows guide participants in unpacking their own connections to the issue, brainstorming the effects this issue had on their community and planning what to do next.
Get involved
快活视频Community Conversation
Civic Renewal Initiative programming takes place at least once a semester, with the next 快活视频Community Conversation taking place on December 4 from 5:00 鈥� 7:00 p.m. in the University Union. To register, go to .