Civility Project Session 5: Lessons and Challenges for Civility from Civil Society

Through its Civility Project, the John Brademas Center has convened thought leaders, scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to examine the value of civility in politics and the public square. This final session will go beyond civility in the body politic to look at lessons and challenges from other parts of American life. Is there a growing generational difference in the concept of civility? What does Civility mean for Millennials and Gen Z? How are campuses and classrooms facing the collision of civility and regulated vs. free speech? What can we learn from other sectors, such as entertainment and the arts? What lessons are there from how artists build connection and empathy? How can satire and humor be used as a tool of civility, or of incivility? What lessons can we draw from the power of humor to confront leaders in disarming ways?

Speakers for this final panel include Caty Borum, Executive Director, Center for Media & Social Impact, American University, Ricardo Maldonado, President and Executive Director, Academy of American Poets, and Hussein Rashid, Assistant Dean, Religion and Public Life; Lecturer, Harvard Divinity School.