Conversation to Discuss Campus Diversity and Moral Values

Robert Cavalier says it is hoped that Deliberative Polls will encourage students to move beyond their comfort zones and engage more actively in the issues that confront us as a community.

The first in a series of "Campus Conversations" will take place to gauge student opinion on life, learning and values at Carnegie Mellon on Saturday, Nov. 19. The event will consist of a Deliberative Poll® in which 90 students will be selected through random sampling to participate. The poll will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. in Baker and Porter halls.

A Deliberative Poll gathers a representative sample of a community to discuss and respond to questions on pressing local, regional or national issues. While traditional public opinion polls solicit intuitive responses from people who are not well-informed on the topic, Deliberative Polls represent what people think about an issue if they have had time to consider and discuss it with experts and among themselves. Deliberative Polls also spur participants to stay engaged in community affairs.

The event is being organized by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy (http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/caae/dp/) and the Coro Center for Civic Leadership. The University Libraries, the Department of Philosophy and the President's Diversity Advisory Council are also co-sponsoring the Campus Conversations.

The poll will address two overarching topics: the nature of a diverse campus community and the interplay of moral values in private and public campus life. Among the questions that students will consider are: Is Carnegie Mellon providing you with opportunities to understand, confront, and resolve the difference that you find in different cultures? Are there specific steps that you think would facilitate communication and respect among the different ethnic and social groups on our campus? What role, if any, should the university have in addressing some of the ethical and legal issues that might arise on a campus like ours? How should we think about and respond to "file-sharing" as it relates to copyrighted materials?

"We hope that the Deliberative Polls will, in the long term, encourage students to move beyond the groups in which they've traditionally found their comfort zones and to engage more actively in the issues that confront us as a community," said Robert Cavalier, co-director of the Program for Deliberative Democracy and an associate teaching professor of philosophy.

The participants will take a survey before and after they participate in the deliberations, and then again at the end of the spring term. Their opinions will be compared to a control group that will complete the survey but will not participate in the Deliberative Poll.

Recruitment for the poll will begin Nov. 2, and those selected to participate will be notified via email. Participation is, of course, voluntary.

Randall Weinstein
October 31, 2005