New ‘Civil Discourse for Citizenship Certificate’ program to open for student enrollment in spring

Madison Wallace
Thu, 12 Dec 2024 05:48:35 +0000
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The Center for Ethics and Human Values operates from University Hall. Credit: Caleb Blake | Lantern File Photo

Ohio State’s Center for Ethics and Human Values is offering a new academic program enrollment opportunity this spring that aims to educate students about the importance of respectful dialogue, with the added benefit of appearing on a college transcript.

The Civil Discourse for Citizenship Certificate — a 12-credit program that combines theoretical and practical knowledge from relevant disciplines as a formal certification, according to the center’s website — is designed to create an opportunity for students to study the principles of civil discourse. Kathryn Joyce, the center’s Civil Discourse Program director, said the program will allow students to deepen their understanding of civil discourse in various contexts through tailored coursework and classroom discussion.

“Our hope is that this program will help future professionals and citizens appreciate civic values so they can contribute to the creation of inclusive, tolerant communities that recognize the importance of free speech and open dialogue across difference,” Joyce said.?

Joyce said the program is working to build off of the university’s pre-existing programming regarding civil discourse and will give students the opportunity to hone their critical thinking and discussion skills while building trust with their peers.?

In the context of Ohio State’s mission to prepare students to become engaged citizens, Joyce said she believes civil discourse is the aspect of democratic citizenship that the university is almost uniquely designed to promote. Even so, she said it is rare to find academic university programs in the U.S. that explicitly focus on the subject.?

“There’s been quite a bit of interest in our civil discourse programs, and we got the sense that students would be interested in studying civil discourse academically, and the university didn’t have a program like this,” Joyce said. “I looked around and not many universities actually did have academic programs in civil discourse.”?

The Center for Ethics and Human Values is a faculty-led, university-level center dedicated to respectful discussion and interdisciplinary engagement on ethical challenges that shape the community, Joyce said. To align with this chief goal, CEHV has been working on a set of programs for undergraduates since 2020 due to growth in students’ interest in civil discourse, said CEHV Director Piers Turner.

Turner said these initiatives include a new course called “Arts and Sciences 2400,” student and staff workshops, an online training program and the Civil Discourse Fellows Program, in which he said undergraduate students have the opportunity to moderate their own civil discourse forums on various contentious social issues.?

“It’s in the context of all of those things that we thought an important next step would be to create a certificate program that really gave students a chance to deepen their engagement with the theory and practice of civil discourse,” Turner said.

The core course — titled “Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society,” or ARTSSCI 2400 — is offered as an introduction to the principles and foundations of free speech, virtue ethics and dialogue facilitation skills, Turner said. After taking this course, students then must take classes from six different colleges to fulfill the remaining nine credits of the certificate.

“Students can take classes from six different colleges — in business, psychology, English, education and public affairs — to round out their understanding of civil discourse,” Turner said. “The key for this certificate was that all the courses need to be ones that really deal with the idea of constructive disagreement.”?

The program is open for spring enrollment, with two sections of the core course to be offered next semester, Joyce said. In order for the certificate to appear on a transcript, students must enroll in the program through their advisor.

?Students can find more information on the certificate, as well as other CEHV events and resources, at the center’s website.