Cal State Bakersfield’s Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership (ICDP) student fellows and faculty leaders attended a retreat hosted by the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, along with student fellows from four other ICDP institutions.
The event was held at Harvard University, where four other schools participated. CSUB was the only school from California to attend. The fellows received facilitation training, participated in deliberative conversations within their group, and had opportunities to interact with speakers from different backgrounds.
The retreat lasted two days and gave students a chance to meet other students from Texas, Florida, and Boston Universities. People from many different backgrounds attended. ICDP member Zaina Farraj, a senior at CSUB, stated,” I feel like this retreat opened my eyes about the importance of perspective.”
Farraj said it was “intimidating” to participate alongside students from Ivy League schools, since many of them were known for their high academic abilities. “I think that being able to sit down at the table and easily converse and share our experiences and even teach others new things were so meaningful, “stated Farraj.
“The retreat focused on entering conversations with an open mind. The goal is not to persuade someone to think or believe what you are pushing,” said Farraj.
The ICDP team was scheduled to return on Jan. 27; however, inclement weather resulted in their being snowed in. Their flight was cancelled and subsequently rescheduled multiple times before they were able to return home.
Farraj said, “It is important to expand your knowledge through different intellectual scopes, and it’s not always from a factual standpoint, but looking at it through an ethical lens can really teach you a lot.”
Senior student Maria Andino de Gonzalez, who also attended the retreat, said, “Civil dialogue only happens when participants lead with curiosity, which means wondering why the other person thinks differently, is a possibility for common ground, or if there is a possibility for a compromise.”
Andino de Gonzalez, one of the seven CSUB students who attended the Harvard event, said, “A productive dialogue does not always end in agreement. If you can plant the seed of curiosity in others to research about your stand or to try to understand your perspective, even if in the end they will not agree with you, you still participated in productive civil discourse.”
Andino de Gonzalez said that events like these are necessary in today’s society because “these days, almost everything is an uncomfortable topic, so learning and practicing civil disagreement is a must.”
Programs like the ICDP create dialogue that teaches students to engage in meaningful conversations. The goal is to educate students to have productive, engaging conversations that will one day lead to positive change.
