By Hailey Cylinder

Diving into a conversation about politics, the state of the world, civics, or other sensitive subjects can be uncomfortable. In fact, some people actively avoid it. But at DelVal, there is a space to learn, talk, and confront topics that are critical to understanding the world around us. 

Opportunities to be part of these conversations are growing at DelVal.

For the past couple of years, the School of Business, Arts and Sciences at Delaware Valley University has been working on a series of talks designed for students to engage with each other on current controversial topics across the world. Coordinated by Dean Tanya Casas, the series brings together students, faculty, guest speakers, and the broader Doylestown community in a designated space to discuss these topics. Each semester, there is a new overarching theme, with the Fall 2025 theme being ‘Chaos as the new normal.’ Topics range from the Constitution and civics, attacks on the media and bodily autonomy, grief as a motivator, and NATO’s Eastern flank. Originally created to help shed light on pressing topics and bridge divides, the series of discussions are recurring and address a particular theme over the course of an academic year.

One recent event, “The Power of Grief: Transforming Mourning into Momentum During Times of Loss, Fear, and Uncertainty in LGBTQ+ Communities”event, was co-hosted by Doylestown Pride and organized by Dr. Audrey Ervin.

Now in its fourth year, Casas hopes to bring in more student engagement with the program, which, while open to the greater community, its main purpose is to create dialogue between students and encourage continued learning and pursuit of knowledge.

Eli Freire attended a talk to get extra credit for his comparative politics class.

“Hearing professors speak on current political issues and fear helped me not feel so alone in my fears in the world of politics,” Freire said.

“If you can’t discuss controversial topics at a university, where can you?” Casas said.

With recent attacks on these kinds of discussions on college campuses, this is truer than ever.

To facilitate these conversations, they’ve been moved from the Life Sciences Building to the Cooke Wing in the library. The change was made to create a smaller, more open atmosphere and increase accessibility to students. Often appearing near the bottom of the “This Week at DelVal” email, many students are unaware of these events and Casas hopes to draw in students who are coming into the library for other reasons.

The talk was held in an open forum style, allowing audience members to ask questions about the timeline of the potential backslide of American democracy, the potential of an influential third party, and the effects of money on democracy, amongst other topics related to current political happenings.

In the future, Casas hopes to establish a student committee to help pick topics and themes for future series. Speaking of the future, the next talk is Poland: The New Anchor of NATO’s Eastern Flank?

It will be hosted by DelVal’s Dr. Shih-chieh “Jay” Su and guest speaker Dr. Wojciech Michnik, a professor of International Relations and Security Studies at Poland’s Jagiellonian University.

For the upcoming Spring 2026 series, the theme will be about immigration, an extremely hot topic in the U.S. at the moment. The exact dates and talk titles have not yet been released, but be sure to keep an eye out.

Schedule of Upcoming Events