Student Project Manager Maggie Maston ’28 interviews Dr. Saher Selod, author and director of research for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Dr. Selod discusses the intersections of race and religion as well as her research on Muslims and surveillance. She shares her experience with interviewing Muslims and how it has shaped her thought on racialization. Finally, Dr. Selod breaks down key findings from the ISPU’s 2025 American Muslim Poll, examining their most pressing societal implications. Read more

In this interview, Jaclyn Corin, survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting and executive director of March For Our Lives, discusses the process of founding March for Our Lives with her classmates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She gives insight into the organization’s recent structural changes as well as advice on navigating ongoing challenges in the shrinking federal landscape of gun control. Overall, Jaclyn speaks to the importance of collaboration when organizing under pressure from powerful politicians and their lobbyists. Read more

Andrew K. Ankamah Jr. (The Accountability Initiative) and Larren Wells (Students Demand Action, Pittsburgh Chapter) discuss how they got involved in the gun violence prevention movement. Ankamah explains how community engagement can function as a form of gun violence prevention and speaks to the value of college readiness workshops that The Accountability Initiative’s Temple chapter has conducted with high school students. Wells touches on her personal experiences with gun violence, the importance of framing gun control as a public health issue, and civic engagement strategies organized by her chapter of Students Demand Action. The interview was conducted by Bella Lapp ’26, Clarke Forum student project manager. Read more

Student Project Manager and Co-Supervisor Layla Ilarraza ’26 interviews Dr. Judith Grisel, neuroscientist and a professor of psychology at Bucknell University, and author of the book “Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction.” Dr. Grisel discusses the brain’s role in studying addiction, the many pathways to addiction, and how we as a country and community can best treat addiction. The interview also touches on how other species, like insects, have chemically induced experiences similar to humans. Lastly, Dr. Grisel gives advice to parents and students on how to mitigate addiction on college campuses. Read more

Student project manager Kylie De La Cruz ’27 interviews Juliana Tafur Juliana, director of UC Berkley’s Greater Good Science Center’s Bridging Differences program. Tafur was inspired by the polarization and “othering” she witnessed during the 2016 U.S. presidential election to start the List(e)n Courageously Movement and help individuals bridge political and cultural divides. Tafur discusses tools and strategies to have meaningful “bridging” conversations, explores what it means to find commonality versus common ground, and stresses the significance of one’s positionality or “situatedness” in these discussions. Read more

Shayna Herzfeld ‘25, student project co-supervisor, interviews Professor of Linguistics and Translation, Amélie Josselin-Leray from the University of Toulouse, Jean Jaurès. During this conversation, they discuss the process of translation and the ways in which it has changed over time. In the past several decades, translation technology has experienced rapid growth, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence, though translators have been using machine assistance in their work for nearly 100 years. Listen to learn about Dr. Josselin-Leray’s proposed path forward, where translators can work with and benefit from machine translation tools and artificial intelligence. Read more

Clarke Forum Student Project Manager Supasinee Siripun ’27 sits down with Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, director of the Campus Free Expression Project to discuss the importance of free speech in higher education institutions. Pfeffer Merrill brings real world experience to describe the current need for constructive discourse among young adults, spotlighting Dickinson’s own program – Dialogues Across Differences. Read more

Student Project Manager Noah Salsich ’25 interviews Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a 250th generation Hopi dry farmer and an assistant professor of Indigenous resilience at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment. In this interview, Kotutwa Johnson talks about the importance of Indigenous recognition, as well as comments on modern sustainable agricultural techniques and land-back movements. The interview also touches on some of the pushback Indigeous people have faced from the scientific community and Dr. Johnson’s responses to this. Read more

Student project manager Kylie De La Cruz ’27 interviews Dr. Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. McNutt shares her thoughts on the rise of scientific misinformation and disinformation and discusses how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can exacerbate, but also combat, the spread of false information. As a geophysicist, Dr. McNutt describes her experience integrating the use of AI into her work, and comments on the role the NAS will play in the future of AI in science.

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Student project manager Kylie De La Cruz ’27 interviews Sarah Niebler, associate professor of political science at Dickinson College. Professor Niebler shares her thoughts on the 2024 U.S. presidential election and discusses trends in political behavior, election processes, and political science scholarship. She describes how media and emotionality have shaped American politics, and comments on the future of the U.S. and its election process. Read more