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Leadership, Community Building & Courageous Action
Challenging students to grapple with and reflect on foundational questions about what it means to lead with honor, ethics, and courage is a focus of the McCain-Ravenel Center for Intellectual and Moral Courage. The Center faculty plan five McCain-Ravenel Days each year, which are full academic days devoted to thoughtful explorations of timely topics. The Keynote speakers set the tone for the day’s work, which generally includes a combination of small group activities, workshops, and service projects. The faculty also organize the Civil Dialogue Project, which invites speakers to campus to help students develop and hone the skills necessary to engage in productive and meaningful discussion as part of their educational journey and growth into effective and ethical leaders. The focus of all programming for 2023-24 is leadership, community building, and courageous action. Three compelling speakers visited with students this fall.
McCain-Ravenel Days
In September students enjoyed an impactful visit from United States Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, who recounted stories of his childhood as a Cuban immigrant, his journey to the Naval Academy, his interactions with Senator John McCain ‘54, and his current appointment. He spoke of leadership and courage, showing our students firsthand the epitome of a life dedicated to service. In addressing student questions, Del Toro emphasized the importance of making decisions based on facts and not emotion, and the power of hard work and perseverance. The bit of advice he asked the students to remember was “to always follow your passion, to always be passionate about what you want to do in your life and to give it your all.”
October brought Amy Liu, interim president of the Brookings Institution, to campus to address the importance of civil dialogue as part of productive civic engagement. She emphasized that “we are not as polarized as we are led to believe on social media or cable TV,” and reminded students not to make assumptions about the politics, educational levels, or financial status of people. She talked about the powerful impact people can make by focusing on civic issues at the local level, and explained how important it is to understand how our metro areas have a far-reaching economic impact. Instead of just understanding differences and different perspectives, Liu emphasized the importance of working together: “Progress does not come from talk. Progress comes from leaders who find ways to solve problems together despite coming from different cultural backgrounds, income levels, neighborhoods, and beliefs…we need to move from civic discourse to civic action, which is our civic duty.”
Civil Dialogue Project
The School’s first Civil Dialogue Project speaker of the year was author and founding director of the American University Project on Civic Dialogue Lara Schwartz whose work focused on understanding and improving civic discourse. Schwartz challenged students to “Flip the script by not searching for evidence to back up assertions but rather to make assertions backed up by evidence,” and to avoid “binary yes/no questions,” using instead “lovable questions” that seek to broaden the circle of those who can engage in the conversation and help us understand differing perspectives. Before having students break into advisory groups for collaborative problem-solving exercises, she reminded them that the best answer one can have is “I don’t know” because it allows them the opportunity to be curious and search for the best solution.
“Learning how to listen, produce insightful questions, and be accountable for our actions and words are hallmarks of ethical citizen leaders,” said Dr. Ryan Pemberton, the William Stamps Farish Fund Director of the McCain-Ravenel Center for Intellectual and Moral Courage. “The skills we are actively helping students learn and practice at Episcopal are designed to cultivate the ethical servant leaders our world so desperately needs.”
