In July 2026, the United States will turn 250 years old, leading to planned celebrations across the country. The Deliberate Citizenship Initiative has chosen a unique way to commemorate this anniversary. In collaboration with Duke University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, the DCI has planned a set of four talks and corresponding deliberations across the academic year on American values, entitled “A Journey Together of Rediscovery, Reexamination, and Recommitment.”
According to Associate Professor of Political Science and Faculty Director of the DCI Graham Bullock, the idea was in the works for many years. “We had discussed doing some kind of series related to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, because it seemed like a good moment to discuss the American values from a historical perspective, and from the beginning we wanted it to be deliberate and engage with the complexities of those values,” Bullock said.
Last year, Bullock began working on a plan with Kevin Marinelli, a communication scholar and executive director for UNC’s program for public discourse, and Deondra Rose, professor of political science and history at Duke. Together, they decided to have four sessions on two foundational American values each. “We generated a list of values that we identified in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and thought about how they are both complex in their own right, and in their interactions with one another,” Bullock said.
This year, the DCI series deviates from its traditional format. Instead of having the Round Table and deliberative discussions on the same night, participants can attend the lecture one evening and engage in small group community conversations over the subsequent week. Bullock has some reasons for this change.
“We wanted to give the expert Round Table more time to really engage with each other, because inevitably, 50 minutes feels or felt insufficient for them to really engage. Also, the main purpose of these round tables is to catalyze and empower the community conversations to help the audience members gain confidence and a sense of engagement with the topic,” Bullock said.
To avoid long events difficult for people to attend, the DCI decided to adapt its D-Teams, recurring groups that convene at the same time and place over the semester, to the format of the Series on American Values. Deliberators can sign up for a semester-long D-Team that comes together after both Round Tables or participate in a one-off deliberation. Conversations occur both on campus and over Zoom.
The series has made a profound impact so far with its two sessions. “You can’t have a political conversation without having these American values that DCI has labeled as a key target. So far, we’ve talked about self governance and national stability, unity and equality, especially ideas such as immigration,” DCI Fellow Bolling Lewis ’28 said. “I think these are all key to building up to the idea that none of these things can be tackled without addressing the idea of the USA—the goal of having a more democratic society, having more inclusion and having people be more informed.”
Building on last week’s Round Table, DCI Fellows will facilitate community conversations this week, eliciting enthusiasm from these student employees. “The goal to achieve is to have more conversations. It’s very difficult today to have conversations, especially with people that you don’t see eye to eye with politically. Being able to gain more perspectives is one of the most invaluable things that DCI aims and strives for, and something they achieve quite well,” Lewis said.
Organizing the series has not been challenge-free. With the Lilly Gallery unavailable for use while it serves as a makeshift library space, large events like this have faced space constraints. “Our forums in the past had 80 to 100 plus people attend and participate in those round table discussions after the Expert Round Table. Our hope is that once the library is complete, we’ll be able to host these types of events at the top floor, where there’ll be a lot of space,” Bullock said.
In the future, Davidson students look forward to more engaging discussions on similar topics. “I really want to see the key hot button issues that change year to year to be addressed. The more we have these difficult conversations, especially in these controlled environments where it’s okay to make mistakes, it makes everybody on the whole better off,” Lewis said.
The next Round Table will take place at Davidson on Feb. 11 focused on the following topic: “Balancing Liberty and Welfare.” The final session will be hosted at Duke on Mar. 24 on “Justice and the Rule of Law.” In that time, the DCI will continue holding community conversations and fostering deliberative discourse on campus.
Bullock said the DCI’s programming is an opportunity for reflection. “Use this 250th anniversary to think about what American values are, how they connect to each other, and how they are reflected in our history and contemporary policy discussions. And finally, think about the next 250 years. What kind of country do we want to be in 250 years from now?”