Shasha Seminar Promoted Civil Dialogue for Change

This year’s Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, Dialogue for Change: From Conflict to Action, brought together a wide range of diverse voices over two days of keynotes, panels, and interactive workshops for alumni, students, faculty, and guests. The goal was to move from the challenge of having dialogue across differences to community building that leads to democratic action.  

Setting the stage for a full day of activities was keynote presenter, writer, and actress Anna Deavere Smith Hon. ’97, who delivered two performances that dramatized historic debates. One was an excerpt from her latest play, This Ghost of Slavery, that re-enacted a Civil War-era debate about educating slaves; the other a rendition of a public conversation between anthropologist Margaret Meade and writer James Baldwin, known as A Rap on Race, in which the two wrestled with issues of race, responsibility, and democracy. 

After the performances, Smith sat for a conversation with President Michael S. Roth ’78. Given recent cultural attempts to suppress history, Roth asked Smith what role legacies of the past, like the ghosts she brings to life in her work, should play in the present moment of democratic crisis. In response, Smith asked, “Can you really make ghosts go away? I don’t think so.” She also shared a story about an ancestor who she recently learned was part of the Underground Railroad. This great-great grandfather did work disinterring and reburying the dead after the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Reflecting on how this metaphor underscored the value of sharing our complex history, Roth said, “Many of the people you've decided to learn about and whose stories you bring forward and elevate—those people, their stories instruct us about who we are and who we've been.”  

Smith agreed: “If we shut down the past and only have our contemporary way of looking at things, we miss an opportunity.”  

The weekend began with a slightly different perspective on the past and present delivered by Eboo Patel, a civic leader, speaker, and author. In his opening keynote, he argued that, historically, the mainstream paradigm of diversity that has held people of different backgrounds in America together is pluralism.  

 “Pluralism is people from multiple identity backgrounds being proud of that identity, proud of their particularity, in close quarters, coexisting, cooperating,” he noted. In this paradigm, identity is a source of pride rather than grievance. “Our identities together create beautiful cultural expressions, and there will be times where our identities are in deep disagreement, and we're going to have to figure that out.” 

Drilling Deeper into Dialogue 

To help attendees “figure that out,” during one of the interactive workshops of the weekend, Joseph Bubman and Phillipe Cunningham of Urban Rural Action presented, “Constructive Conversation Skills.” Participants practiced the tools of civil conversation, including active listening and other techniques.  

Tasmiah Akter ’26 attended the workshop with the interest of learning how to promote change through conversation. “We can hold ourselves accountable as citizens through the small and internal step of practicing intentionality in how we approach people/conversations, specifically by approaching with a mindset that is ready to learn,” she said. 

During a panel discussion about “Communicating Across Difference” moderator and Associate Professor for the Practice in Human Rights Advocacy and Conflict Resolution Stephen Sonnenberg further explored rules for engaging in debate with expert panelists representing business, academia, and government. They agreed that, despite the risks, all sectors of society should lean into difficult dialogues.  

Physician, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Wesleyan board member Scott Gottlieb ’94, Hon. ’21, shared how he managed policy disagreements during his three terms at the FDA under presidents of different parties. He described how he established his credibility early on with policy wins on issues as divisive as drug pricing and the regulation of opioids.  

Today, looking from the outside in, he focuses his public voice on effectiveness. “That's where I've tried to veer now, to be constructive, where I'm not endorsing policy, but I'm saying there's an underlying ethos here that makes sense, and here's how we would actually achieve it,” he said.   

That panel was followed by three interactive workshops: one led by Assistant Professor of Government Hari Ramesh exploring the concepts of authority and authoritarianism; a second led by Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Executive Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life Khalilah Brown-Dean delving into how stories can help bridge divides and build community; and a third led by Associate Professor of Philosophy Elise Springer about strategies for handling charged encounters. 

From Dialogue to Community and Change 

Following the hands-on workshops, Brown-Dean led a panel discussion about “Building Community in Divided Times.” The panelists, with deep experience doing community work and fostering dialogue, shared their histories and ideas for activating disparate communities. Their ideas ranged from seeking common ground locally, establishing trust, protecting art and culture, and connecting across generations. 

CEO of CoGenerate Eunice Lin Nichols, a nonprofit that brings the young and old together to solve problems, shared how connecting across generations can address the epidemic of loneliness and create belonging. She gave an example of a college that is rethinking education by enrolling undergraduates, mid-career adults, and retirees on one campus. “We can't afford to be so divided when our challenges are too big for one generation to solve,” she said. 

Hana Frank ’27 found the panel insightful. “I enjoyed hearing about the intergenerational learning at Goucher College, because age divides aren’t something I’ve considered much in the past,” she said. “I was particularly inspired by the idea of a grassroots approach to community empowerment.” 

For the closing, Sheila Heen, Thaddeus R. Beal Professor of Practice at Harvard University and deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, led attendees in exercises designed to practice debate using approaches that emphasize either assertiveness or empathy. The latter—a more exploratory, receptive approach—tends to foster cooperation and ongoing dialogue. “Asking questions and coming from a place of curiosity…is essential for us to understand each other across those differences,” she said. 

The event served as a formal launch of Wesleyan’s three-year initiative, “Renewing Democracy’s Promise,” an effort to strengthen democratic culture through dialogue, community, and civic engagement. 

The Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, endowed by James J. Shasha ’50, P’82, supports lifelong learning and encourages participants to expand their knowledge and perspectives on significant issues.