RISD Launches Lift Every Voice Civic Engagement Series

RISD celebrated Constitution and National Voter Registration Day on September 17 by launching Lift Every Voice, an intensive civic engagement campaign promoting healthy discourse and proactive, ethical action across campus and beyond. As the US gears up for the November 5 presidential election and wars continue in Gaza and elsewhere around the world, RISD administrators, staff and faculty are attempting to provide useful resources for students seeking to make their voices heard and create positive change.

“Understanding how to navigate moments of extreme moral, intellectual and political complexity to engage others despite our differences—any difference, not just elections and wars—is critical to creating a more just society,” says President Crystal Williams. “Thoughtfulness is the measure of a community that truly values diversity, inclusion and learning. As the fall semester begins, I encourage everyone in the RISD community to partake in some of the wonderful civic engagement programming and resources on offer.” 

As a nonprofit institution, RISD cannot engage in partisan advocacy, but the administration is encouraging all US citizens within the community to vote in the upcoming election and inviting everyone to a series of workshops and panel discussions focused on listening, learning and nonviolent political action. “These resources are intended to inform RISD’s pedagogical deliveries, aid collective learning and bridge differences whenever possible,” Provost Touba Ghadessi says. “Education and knowledge are the most powerful gifts we have and we must share them generously.”

The series began with an informal presentation in the Fleet Library at RISD led by Assistant General Counsel Brittany Lok, Emilio Santiago and Myrta Ventura. They celebrated the Constitution’s 237th birthday by walking participants through the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th constitutional amendments, all of which expanded voting rights in the US, and explained how such legislation continues to shape our country. Outside the Fleet and across campus, staff members volunteered at voter registration tables as part of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge—a nonpartisan effort to increase student voting rates across the US—engaging with hundreds of students and helping dozens register to vote.

Also in the works is the first installment of a faculty workshop called Strategies for Political Discussion and Debate hosted by RISD’s Teaching & Learning Lab. The program is aimed at helping faculty members foster inclusive discourse in their classrooms about the polarization of the current moment—from understanding political processes and histories to negotiating conflicts of belief and opinion.

Several workshops—some for students, others for faculty and staff—are planned to help community members navigate global hardships. Dissolving Boundaries workshops will be led by representatives of FeelBeit, a group of Israelis and Palestinians from Jerusalem working together to use art and music to bridge divides. Visiting scholar Johanna Vollhardt will lead a session called Solidarity, Resistance and Collective Trauma in the Context of Israel/Palestine. Centered around the psychological impact of collective victimization, this event invites faculty and staff to engage in dialogue about the war in Gaza. RISD is also taking part in the Unify Challenge College Bowl this fall, a virtual intercollegiate event that organizes thousands of one-on-one student conversations across differences, teaching participants how to find common ground and engage in respectful conversation without conflict.

An interfaith candlelight vigil was organized to recognize the loss and grief that recent world events have inflicted upon our collective consciousness. The event was led by Brown University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson, Associate Chaplain Delphain Demosthenes and Minister of the First Baptist Church in America Jamie P. Washam, who reminded the crowd that “there is a difference between lamentation and despair” and advised them as the candles were lit to “turn to your neighbor when you are feeling overwhelmed by darkness and see if there is a bit of brilliance they can share with you.”

Learn more about the Lift Every Voice civic engagement series and how to register for upcoming events.

Simone Solondz
October 1, 2024