The Berkley Institute for Civil Discourse and Civic Solutions has been launched at New York University, aiming to foster productive collaboration among individuals with differing ideological perspectives. The institute was established through a donation from William R. Berkley, chair emeritus of NYU’s Board of Trustees, and the Berkley Family Foundation.
Patrick Egan, professor of politics and public policy at NYU since 2007, will serve as the inaugural director. Egan’s background includes academic research on American political behavior and roles in public policy outside academia, such as serving in Philadelphia’s city government and as an analyst for NBC News.
The institute plans to bring together leaders, scholars, students, and other stakeholders for constructive conversations that go beyond dialogue to address major civic challenges. According to Egan: “The Institute will address two challenges that help explain why we are failing to address many of our biggest civic challenges, and why we are so angry with each other. The first is that we live in an era of tremendously polarization where we have liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats who sharply disagree on some—but not all—important questions about government and public policy. We focus on those differences rather than identifying common ground, engaging in invective and diatribe instead of working together to solve our biggest problems.
The second is that we live in an era of increasing isolation, in part due to the preeminence of social media and technology. This is especially true for young people, who spend more time alone than previous generations. And when we do venture out, we’re still talking predominantly with people who share our views rather than getting different perspectives. This leaves us with inaccurate and imprecise ideas about what everybody else is thinking about our big problems.”
Egan also described the institute’s approach: “There are a lot of great efforts in place—here at NYU and in schools throughout the country—to engage students and other community members in dialogue. The Institute will complement these efforts by engaging everyone—students, experts, elected officials, you name it—to take the next steps beyond dialogue toward addressing big problems with concrete solutions, and to shape the national dialogue about those problems.
One of the things that is going to make the Institute distinct is that, each year, we’ll focus many of our efforts and events on one civic challenge. We’ll bring together elected officials, policy experts, and NYU faculty to talk about and bring their expertise to bear on the problem. Over the course of our year together, we’ll shape a conversation that leads us as a society in directions about how to solve this problem.”
For its first year, the institute will focus on issues facing boys and young men related to education attainment gaps, mental health concerns, personal development struggles compared with previous generations.
“Over the last two or three decades,” Egan said,“on a number of important dimensions—establishing independence from parents, going to college or vocational school, starting a job, mental and physical health,civic engagement—boys and young men are falling behind relative to males in previous generations.This slow-moving crisis is a huge problem not just for males but for everyone. Encouragingly people from across political divides–including Republicanand Democratic governors,and liberaland conservative policy experts—are engagedin good-faith effortsto address this problem.And they are even talkingto one another! So there’s potentialto addressand solve the problem,and that’s whythe Institutewants to enter into this conversation.We think this isa topicwhere thereis enoughcommon groundfor everyoneto say,’This isa problem,sotogether let’sthink abouthowto solve it.’”
Undergraduate students will play an active role by joining a selective cohort tasked with researching societal issues over an academic year; their findings will be compiled into a policy paper outlining areas of agreement,differences,and proposed solutions.Egan explained:“I’ve been teachingfor almost20 years,and what I hearoverandover againfrom studentsis thatthey really wantto be partof thesolution.A universitycan bea placewhere wesay,’Let’s hearabout lotsof differentperspectives.Let’s talkabout themina calm reasonedand constructiveway.’That doesn’t meanthat you’renot goingto hearthings thatyou don’tagreewith orthings thatmight bedifficulttounderstand.But inheringthese differentpointsof view,we caneachthinkfor ourselves.More importantly,we canalso thinkabouthowwe cancontributetosolvingbigproblems.
The Institute will have a cohortof undergraduate fellows,chosen throughaveryselective process.They’llbe academically excellent,butwe’realso lookingforademonstratedcommitmenttoengagingwith perspectivesthatarenotnecessarilytheir own.We’realso lookingforstudentswithahistoryofsomekindofpublicorcommunityservice—andwe’regoingtodefinethatbroadly.Inadditiontoa backgroundworkingforanonprofitoran electedofficial,we’regoingtoconsidermilitaryserviceorparticipationinfaith-basedcommunities.Wewantstudentswhodemonstrateanauthenticandearnestcommitmenttoengaging,tolistening,andtobeingopentootherperspectives.Thecohortwillworktogetherontheyear’stopic.They’llproduceapolicypaperthatwillidentifywhatthey’velearned,wheretheyagreeabout,wheretheydisagree,andpotentialsolutionstotheproblem.Wewanttoillustratethevalueofdisagreeingagreeably.”
Egan emphasized good faith as essential: “Everyone involved with the Institute—myself as directorand certainlyour donorWilliam Berkley—shareacommitmenttoensuringthateveryonewho’sinvolved,whetherasaguestspeakervisitingscholarsthefellowshavedemonstratedagood-faithattitudetowardsolvingproblems.Therearemanyexamplesofspeakersatothercampusesthatbeenbroughtinsolelytoprovoke.Whilethere’ssomethingtobesaidforthatkindofthingatacertaintime,inacertainplacehat’snotourgoal.Oursistosay,’Let’sbringinpeoplewho,inthepastandinthepresentaredemonstratingthattheywanttomeettheothersideingoodfaith,’sowemaythinksincerelyabouthowtosolveproblemstogether,evenwhenthere’sdisagreement.
To be clear,thisisnotanempty-gestured‘kumbaya’moment!Thisisabouthelpingournationandworldsucceed.Whenyoubringpeoplewithmultipleperspectivesorevenopposingviews,tothetablewithrobustcuriosityandacommitmenttoopeninquiryandcivildiscourse,youcanoftenfindareasofcommonground.Youcanlearnandagainanricherunderstandingofthechallengeyou’retryingtosolve.Andwecertainlyhopethatthestudentswhoparticipateinourprogramswillbecomeambassadorsforthiskindofeffortandspiritacrosscampusandbeyond.IthinkthatgivesNYUagreatopportunitytoshowthatwe,andthereforealluniversitiescanbeaplacewhereconstructivediscoursetakesplaceintheserviceofreachingsolutionstoourbiggestcivicchallenges.”
