FREE EXPRESSION & PLURALISM

Our world is stuck in a culture of deep polarization, cancel culture, de-platforming, silencing and shaming. Society is increasingly vulnerable to widespread mis- and disinformation, and free expression has become politicalized and often treated with suspicion.

Political radicalization and social polarization have undermined trust in democratic institutions, reduced public trust in all institutions, including, worryingly, universities, and stymied our ability to have meaningful dialogue.

In contrast, a body of research shows that students and society are hungry for meaningful discourse in the classroom and in their lives.

The National Academy for Pluralism and Free Expression at the University of Denver (The Academy) will harness and build on DU’s existing expertise to answer this intense hunger, uniting the essential research, thought leadership, convening power and educational programming taking place at DU under one ambitious and visionary umbrella.

The Academy will lead a national effort to build skills in students and communities, and vehicles through which to use, practice and model the skills and values that are necessary for the functioning of a democratic society and essential to overcoming our polarized environment and the advancement of knowledge.

Here are a few of the priorities that you can directly impact with your philanthropy today:

• Expanding the Denver Dialogues – Your gift will help expand the reach, recruit high-quality speakers and increase student engagement with this existing model of robust and constructive conversations on major issues facing the nation and the world.
• Formalizing Civic Debate Across the Curriculum – Your gift will allow us to scale our growing civic debate program, equip all DU students with the tools, principles and experience to engage in healthy debate for the practice and promotion of intellectual diversity and pluralism
• Launch a Scholars-in-Residence Program – Your gift will ensure the University can host a revolving roster of prominent thinkers and/or researchers on campus to represent divergent points of view, through a mix of public debates, workshops, seminars, public lectures, convention of research symposia, and classroom settings.
• Launch a University Lecture and Debate Series for Pluralism – Your gift will bring speakers to campus with the express goal of modeling civil discourse while creating opportunities for students to model and utilize the skills learned through their engagement with The Academy.

By giving, you join our community of alumni and friends around the world in making a difference in the lives of students and faculty. Your contribution will count toward our Denver Difference campaign goal and help us show the world what DU can do.