Common Dialogue Day 2015: Justice: It Starts With Us

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On Sept. 29, hordes of students filed into the Performing Arts Center on Siena Heights University’s campus. Many students couldn’t even find seats and had to sit on the ground along the aisles.

“I don’t think any of us will ever forget how uplifting that was,” said freshman Kayla Boland.

Common Dialogue Day is a tradition at SHU, and according to the chemistry teacher and pastor Julius Nagy, “Many students say that Common Dialogue Day is their favorite day of the year, although that may be because there is a tradition of having no classes.”

The day focuses on communicating about popular, as well as sometimes controversial, topics. The point of the day is to discuss, debate and reflect on yourself ultimately strengthening and growing in character.

Common Dialogue Day is filled with different events students can attend, but the beginning of the day always starts with the featured speaker. The keynote speaker this year was Bryan Stevenson.

Every year at SHU a theme is presented. For the 2015-16 school year at SHU, the theme is justice. Stevenson is a lawyer who is known for representing capital defendants. Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy” a required read for incoming freshmen, and his history of helping the poor and minorities in America made him the perfect candidate for this year’s keynote speaker.

After Stevenson’s speech, the day separated into three different sessions each one lasting about 45 minutes. Sessions included events such as, ‘female roles in super hero movies,’ ‘international views on political corruptness,” and ‘to achieve justice we must know the past.’ The sessions were led by professors to students.

Common Dialogue Day ended with a spiritual dialogue in St. Dominic’s Chapel. The event was for a student’s perspective on dialogue, and following the event, there was an ice cream social allowing students to discuss anything critical they learned throughout the day.

After speaking with dozens of students, the overall consensus was that the day was a lot more fun than they expected it to be.

Freshman Cameron Best said, “I was expecting to hate today. I had to go to at least two of the events for extra credit in one of my classes and I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed them.”

According to sophomore Lexa VanDamme, “Common Dialogue Day really is one of my favorite days of the years. I think it allows us to all really grow as students, and really just as people.”