Spring 2018 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
Difficult dialogues
OHIO’s George Washington Forum exemplifies a strategic pathway established by OHIO President M. Duane Nellis: “Becoming a place where dialogue and rigorous, civil debate are institutional hallmarks.” Founded in 2009, the effort, supported by alumni and friends, foundations, and corporations, provides space on campus for this dialogue to occur.
Anita Martin, BSJ, ’05 | May 14, 2018
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In December, Robert Ingram, director of OHIO’s George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics, and Institutions (GWF), needed a co-sponsor to bring in speaker Mark Lilla, a critic of “identity politics,” to campus as a GWF guest. Ingram reached out to delfin bautista*, director of OHIO’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Center. Would they co-sponsor the talk, though it challenged their center’s very mission? The answer was, perhaps surprisingly, yes.
Illustration by Leonie Bos
Ingram and bautista value civil dialogue that promotes a diversity of viewpoints, which is what GWF is all about, Ingram says. “Only 12 percent of professors self-identify as conservative,” he says, counting himself among them. “I invite to the George Washington Forum people I think will sort of scramble the eggs.”
For bautista, Lilla’s talk let them hear new perspectives. Did all agree in the end? Indeed not, “but that’s not the point,” bautista says. “The point is let’s listen to each other, and hopefully humanize each other a bit.”
On that, Ingram certainly agrees. The collaboration that brought Lilla to OHIO contrasts how events transpired in December 2016, when Ingram refused to co-sponsor a presentation by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. “If you want someone to actually respect what you think, you present only the very best ideas,” Ingram says, “…in a reasoned and civil way.”
*delfin prefers the lowercase form of their name and gender neutral/plural pronouns (they, them, their) or just delfin.
