The Civility Initiative at the College of Charleston was established in 2023 to promote communal engagement, sustained dialogue, and healthy disagreement.
“We’re incredibly excited about the future of the Civility Initiative," said Mike Lee, professor of communication, director of graduate studies, director of the College of Charleston Civility Initiative. "The College of Charleston and the wider community have been incredibly supportive of the Civility Initiative’s work to promote healthy disagreement and dialogue across differences. We’re looking forward to a variety of upcoming events including documentary screenings, research presentations, and discussion panels. Additionally, we’re really enthused about the February debut of our new podcast, ‘When We Disagree’.”
The first Civility Initiative event of 2024, Who Should You Trust for News? is a panel discussion and screening of Trustworthy, a documentary that chronicles the 5,300 mile journey across America to explore how the growing crisis of trust in media threatens democracy and the search for common ground. The panel will feature Stephany Zamora, executive producer of Trustworthy; Jim Hickey, retired international correspondent for ABC News and current chair of the National Advisory Council, department of communication at the College of Charleston; and Sydney Long, a senior in the Honors College, majoring in political science with a minor in communication.
The event is on Tuesday, February 6th in the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering Building, room 129, from 4 pm to 6 pm.
Panelists include:
- Sydney Long, a political science student at the College of Charleston
- Jim Hickey, ABC News journalist, retired and chair of the Department of Communication National Advisory Council
- Stephany Zamora, executive producer of Trustworthy
More details on the documentary: https://www.trustworthydoc.
Upcoming Events
- February 13, 4-5 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Auditorium - Bridging Differences’ is a research presentation featuring Alice Siu who is the associate director of the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford.
- Wednesday, February 14, 12:30 – 1:45 p.m. in the Stern Center Ballroom - Healthy Conflict in Personal Relationships is a panel discussion with faculty from the communications and psychology departments and the counseling center.
- Thursday, February 22, 4-5:30 p.m. in the Wells Fargo auditorium, Beatty Center, room 115 - Christian Nationalism and Democratic Crisis is a discussion with Randall Balmer, a prize-winning historian and author of over a dozen books about religion in America.
