ETSU will host its annual Civility Week starting March 23 through April 4, with this year’s theme being “Celebrating Civility and Discourse.”

Civility Week is an intentional period of connection, conversation and reflection based on the university’s core values. 

Picture of Amber Payne (left) and Deborah Douglas (right). (Contributed/AP Photo, Charles Krupa)

The week will kick off on March 23 with a moderated discussion featuring Deborah Douglas and Amber Payne, co-founders of The Emancipator. The event will start at 7 p.m. in the D.P. Culp Student Center.

The original “Emancipator” was published in Jonesborough, Tennessee, in 1820 by Elihu Embree and was the first newspaper in the United States devoted solely to the abolition of slavery.

Picture of Jerry Greenfield. (Contributed/ETSU)

One of the biggest announcements for this year’s programming includes speaker Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. On April 4, Greenfield will do a question and answer session and help serve ice cream as part of the social time. The event will start at 6:30 p.m. and be held in the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts; it is free and open to the public.

“As we collectively strive to navigate the aftermath of the pandemic and our society continues to wrestle with difficult economic, social and environmental questions, we hope this year’s Civility Week will offer members of the university community an opportunity to engage in those difficult conversations here on campus while also strengthening their own ability to have productive and meaningful dialogues and debates around some of our world’s most complex topics,” said Joy Fulkerson, director of Leadership and Civic Engagement in ETSU’s Student Life and Enrollment. 

Other events include a World Languages and Cultures Festival, a presentation from a religious historian from Auburn University and the TEDxETSU event. The full lineup will go live soon, but for more information, visit etsu.edu/sga/civility.php.

Author