Setting Expectations for New Students

Every fall Georgetown holds a new student convocation. It is a wonderful ritual that is steeped in meaning — welcoming a new set of members into an intellectual community. There is a moment when the new (somewhat puzzled) students don their graduation robes as a symbolic integration into the academic life. The provost gives a welcoming address, but this year seems to require a new message, distinct from those of past years.

As always, the new students need to be reminded that almost all first-years are intimidated by how smart everyone appears to be at Georgetown, but that all of them will graduate if they put in the time. The families must be alerted that support systems outside of Georgetown will still be needed, especially in the first fall term.

But this year, especially, there are new observations that appear important to communicate. We live in a world bifurcated into clusters of ideology that are in conflict with one another. Several posts have this message; for example, here.

Faculty report declining student engagement in classes. Give and take among classmates appear atrophied. Topics of inequality, political beliefs, racial relations, gender-related roles appear to be too sensitive even to discuss in the confines of an academic course.

Universities’ value to society is the constant search for the truth – how is the natural world organized, how can art reveal a specific emotion, how do social norms develop, what causes wars, why do we exist?

This search for truth absolutely requires the presentation of alternative perspectives. Indeed, much of human progress derives from multiple minds disagreeing. Every field in academia is in the midst of disagreements about current theories and methods of seeking advance.

Universities, therefore, have the obligation to transmit to students the ability to interact with content that conflicts with their current understanding. That is what universities must do; not doing it cripples the mission. Learning necessarily requires that students expose themselves to new perspectives. Learning is the synthesis of the new content with the old content. That synthesis cannot occur unless alternative perspectives are engaged.

So, how does this relate to new student convocation? Students need to be alerted that they will be uncomfortable at times at Georgetown in and outside their classes. They will be presented with facts, beliefs, and other content quite different from their prior positions. This discomfort is not “a bug, but a feature” of a university education. We need to set that expectation at new student convocation and throughout their first fall on campus.

No university can achieve its mission without students listening and entertaining diverse perspectives, even when some might be offensive to them. So, we as stewards of a university, have an obligation to model the behavior of discourse across differences.

Recently, we’ve been blessed with philanthropy that is helping us improve such modeling inside the classroom. The Georgetown Dialogues Initiative is offering incentives for faculty to introduce such modeling of discourse across differences into their courses. For example, a cohort of faculty teaching first-year seminars will be working with CNDLS this fall on effective ways to incorporate the promotion of dialogue into their seminars. While the seminars may vary in their substantive focus, the faculty teaching them have committed to a common goal of teaching students about how dialogue across differences enhances our learning. [If you are interested in participating in this cohort, please contact Vice Provost for Education David Edelstein (David.Edelstein@georgetown.edu)].

Effective leaders of this century need skills in empathetic engagement with conflicting viewpoints. It is critical that Georgetown nurture such leaders.