President’s Initiative on Civil Discourse

Today’s students—tomorrow’s leaders—urgently need the capacity to engage in frank, open conversation with people of differing viewpoints. Society —in America and around the world— faces profound, even existential, challenges that require open, informed debate.

University of Vermont students and faculty are eager to contribute to solutions that bridge political, social, economic, cultural, geographical, ideological, religious, and generational divides. Lasting solutions can be built through respectful and constructive dialogue among people who hold diverging opinions, perspectives, and beliefs. In other words, through civil discourse. By learning to appreciate one another’s viewpoints, exchange ideas, and seek mutual understanding, especially in the midst of disagreement or controversy, UVM graduates will create the better future we imagine for them and the generations that follow. 

“We must provide students practice and training in democracy, just as we expect them to master other important skills. Public universities like UVM are uniquely situated to accomplish this goal. I believe it’s in our mandate to do so for the public good.” 

Suresh Garimella, Former UVM President

To underscore our commitment to student success and advance the university’s role in improving the health of our societies, UVM is launching the President’s Initiative on Civil Discourse. Through this new Initiative, UVM will lead by example, demonstrating how institutions of higher education can more fully, more credibly, and more effectively embrace their responsibilities to students—and to broader society. The Initiative will build upon and amplify several initiatives at UVM that support the free exchange of ideas, and develop constructive new opportunities through greater urgency, resources, collaboration, and creativity.

Imagine a world where citizens welcome divergent opinions and weigh them on their merits, where neighbors and strangers are open to understanding each other’s backgrounds and identities as part of who they are rather than determinants of who they must be, where differences of opinion lead to robust conversations that compel people to reexamine their certainties, and where people work together to build from mutually shared values to mutually shared solutions. The President’s Initiative on Civil Discourse will make this vision real, practicing the principles of engaged dialogue and cultural and intellectual pluralism within our institution and beyond, throughout Vermont, and everywhere our students and graduates go. 

President’s Initiative on Civil Discourse Building Blocks

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Presidential Lecture Series

Each year, UVM chooses a theme of relevance to contemporary society and sponsors several lectures on that theme under the banner of the Presidential Lecture Series. The Series strives to make academic work, reliable information, and thoughtful deliberation accessible to the widest possible audience.
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University of Vermont Press

Through the recently launched UVM Press, UVM Libraries leads a global movement to make knowledge more accessible, timely, and free—for all people. Building upon the tradition of open, constructive debate established by the Janus Forum, the Press will soon launch the Janus Texts series.
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Patrick Leahy Honors College

UVM’s Patrick Leahy Honors College is a residential college enrolling some of the most capable students from across the nation and around the globe. It recently launched a new curriculum structured around interdisciplinary seminars that address pressing, and often perplexing, societal challenges.
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Our Common Ground

The fabric of our campus community is woven around six values shared by students, faculty, and staff: Respect, Integrity, Innovation, Openness, Justice, and Responsibility.

Our Commitment
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Lawrence Debate Union

The award-winning, internationally recognized Lawrence Debate Union helps students significantly improve their critical thinking and skills in research, analysis, and communication through the practice of structured argumentation and persuasion.
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Intergroup Dialogue Program

UVM has established an Intergroup Dialogue program for students, faculty, and staff. Principles of Intergroup Dialogue are used to facilitate conversations between groups and promote constructive discussion of charged topics and controversial issues.
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Presidential Leadership Conversations

The Presidential Leadership Conversations equip future leaders with an understanding of the power of evidence-based civil discourse, especially when opinions and backgrounds are very different.
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Catamount Core Curriculum

Required of all undergraduates, is designed to expose students to the intellectual breadth of the liberal arts, develop the skills needed to integrate and apply diverse areas of knowledge, and build the foundations for lifelong learning and active participation in local and global communities.

Foundational Learning
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Center for Community News

The Center for Community News (CCN), funded by the Knight Foundation, staffs local news outlets with student journalists, greatly expanding access to reliable, balanced local news. CCN strengthens a key pillar of American democracy: an informed citizenry.
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Legislative Internship Program

This College of Arts and Sciences program matches students with legislators in Montpelier, engaging them with the political process, policy research, development, and debate. Connecting them with real-world problems and with non-profits, corporations, and citizens throughout Vermont.
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Larner College of Medicine: Professionalism

Members of the Larner College community embrace the principles of professionalism in interactions with patients, students, and colleagues. Professionalism at Larner College means integrity, accountability, compassion, altruism, social responsibility, cultural humility, kindness, and respect.
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Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

UVM’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) provides a platform for engaging in thoughtful dialogue on diverse and important topics through lectures and short programs.

UVM OLLI