Presidential Fellow Matt Burgess, a new economics professor at the university, has been spearheading an initiative on campus to get students talking.
Burgess previously hosted dialogues on Fridays in his previous position at the University of Colorado Boulder and has now brought this idea to UW.
He has already hosted a dialogue across a wide variety of Mountain West schools and plans to continue this trend in a series of Mountain West dialogues on important issues that affect the regions. These are hosted over zoom and are open to any who wish to participate.
In addition, Burgess hosted an in person discussion featuring Tara Evans, Ray Fertig, and Martha McCaughey. This was a panel and extended QnA featuring BridgeUWYO on the topic of the UW Freedom of Expression Principles. The panel focused on what the principles are and why they are important to the UW community.
He followed this up with the first taping of his live podcast, Grounded not Divided, featuring conservative environmentalist Benji Backer. The environmentalist spoke about his movement to get conservatives and the Republican party involved with conservation and the environment in a way that was previously much less prominent.
This leading straight into another dialogue the same week with Professor George Mocsary among other administrators and leaders on campus. The dialogue was held on zoom and revolved around concealed carry on campus, and its many potential impacts. Discussion of guns and where their place ought to be on a college campus in tangent with how that might look was had by both experts and those who held strong views on the issue.
On why these dialogues are important, Burgess stated, “Institutional neutrality means that the administration isn’t going to tell us what to think about hot-button issues. Rapid-response dialogues allow faculty and students to think these issues through for ourselves, and sharpen our constructive dialogue skills while we’re at it.
These dialogues come among the many events aimed at education and reducing polarization on campus, such as the BridgeUWYO panels and discussions, the info sessions put on by YAL, and the Challenges to Democracy series headed by the SPPAIS department.
The university has found itself in a time where freedom of expression, civil dialogue and discourse, and open discussion are widely discussed topics. The UW Principles and the Freedom of Expression committee pair with these faculty and student initiatives to show that there is a movement forming at the university regarding these ideas, and Burgess is at the forefront of tackling depolarization and dialogues in this regard within his position as a fellow.
Ultimately, Burgess added, “It’s great to have free expression and academic freedom rights. They make our institution smarter and more inclusive. But they only do so if we use these freedoms to have the hard and important conversations we need to have as a society with rigour, curiosity, and humility.”
