2024 Teach-In on Social Justice

2024 Teach-In on Social Justice Concurrent Session Proposals

Please submit this form by Wednesday January 31, 2024 to have your session proposal considered for the Concurrent Sessions of the campus-wide Teach-In on March 18.

Please note that while all submissions received by the deadline will be given careful consideration, we may receive more proposals than can be accommodated. Priority will be given to proposals that seem best suited to make unique contributions to the Teach-In Program.

To encourage community-building, collaborative partnerships will be given preference. These partnerships may be formed between different areas within the university, between faculty/staff/students, across academic disciplines, and with members and organizations outside of the university. Student Organizations are urged to partner with one another, faculty and staff are encouraged to partner with students and individuals from other departments or programs.

The theme of the 2024 Teach-In is "Beyond Polarization: From Conflict to the Common Good". This broadly designed theme allows for a range of issues and viewpoints to be addressed in the Concurrent Sessions. The growth of contentious issues facing us today, is evident in the news and in scholarship. The divisions separating groups are deep and have at times erupted into violence. The Teach-In is an opportunity to examine complex issues, engage in thoughtful dialogue across our differences, and strive for equitable solutions that serve the common good. Examples of Concurrent Session topics might include political divisions in the U.S. related to the 2024 election; racism; issues in health and science around vaccines, climate change, and access to healthcare; the Israeli-Gaza conflict; U.S. foreign and domestic policy; genocides; religious intolerance; economic disparities in the U.S.; the polarizing effects of media; gun legislation; immigration; reproductive rights; hate speech v. freedom of speech on college campuses, among many others.

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* 1. In your session proposals, please keep in mind the following unifying principles behind the Teach-In:

INCLUSIVITY. We must vigorously work toward an increasingly “inclusive academic community” and not take for granted that this has been achieved.

OUR INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS. We are called to bring the wisdom of our Benedictine and Catholic intellectual traditions into the dialogue about urgent social issues confronting our local, national, and global communities.

ENGAGED CITIZENS and THE COMMON GOOD. In our efforts to become “engaged citizens,” we need a fuller understanding of what it means to “promote the common good” and to work toward social justice according to Catholic teachings.

OUR HALLMARKS. We are expected to live and to model the values of our Benedictine Hallmarks: Love of Christ and Neighbor, Prayer, Stability, Conversatio (formation and transformation) , Obedience/Listening, Discipline, Humility, Stewardship, Hospitality, Community

Learn more about Catholic Social Teaching and our Benedictine Hallmarks.

I understand, proceed to next.

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* 2. Contact Information for Session Organizer

First Name

Last Name

E-Mail

Phone

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* 3. Name(s) of Session Speaker(s)/Leader(s)

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* 4. Please indicate Staff/Faculty/Student/Community Partners (include both potential and confirmed partners)

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* 5. Title of Session (4-6 words)

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* 6. Session Type (select one most appropriate choice)

Speaker (one person sharing expertise with a group)

Roundtable (designated speakers offer short opening comments followed by dialogue. More time available for dialogue than Panel Presentation described below)

Panel Presentation (Panelists/presenters share perspectives or expertise with an audience. Less time available for dialogue than Roundtable described above)

Facilitated Dialogue (led by a facilitator, participants will share thoughts, perspectives, or feeling in a confidential space)

Workshop (an interactive session where participants learn through both discussion and activity)

Experiential (learning through experience or observation)

Performance (including art, acting, singing, reciting, dancing, or playing music)

Other (please specify)

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* 7. The theme of the 2024 Teach-In is "Beyond Polarization: from Conflict to Common Good."

“Polarization” refers to a divergence of attitudes away from a central position toward ideological extremes; a sharp division between groups into opposing factions; a condition that results when a group’s or nation’s values, attitudes, beliefs, or interests no longer range along a continuum but congregate at opposing extremes.

“Conflict” refers to an active disagreement, disharmony, fight, quarrel, strife, or struggle between individuals, groups, nations that hold competing and incompatible beliefs, values, interests, attitudes; may result from competition for rights, property, power, position.

"The Common Good" is a shared good that belongs to everyone, not based upon competition, but on cooperation and a recognition of our interdependence, because we are all responsible for all. It is a way of life founded on truth, built up in justice, animated by love, and expressed through helping everyone no matter their circumstances.

I understand, proceed to next

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* 8. Please describe clearly how your proposed session is related to the theme of "Beyond Polarization: From Conflict to the Common Good" using the definitions in Q9.

2024 Teach-In on Social Justice