November 20th, 2003
4th floor of Brooklyn College Student Center
9:25am-8:00pm

STATEMENT OF THE PROJECT

The Summit is a forum for campus and (local) off-campus individuals and groups to come together in order to discuss the meaning and practice of democracy in a time of global conflict and inequality.  As such, it is an experiment in the creation and furthering of egalitarian associations and organizations in civil society.  The function of this forum is threefold:

1)    to create a space in which the extensive diversity on campus may assemble in order to engage in cross-cultural conversations of those issues and interests which are central to the respective groups and their communities.  (Being able to present, articulate and defend one’s community’s interest, and attentively listen and respond to the interests of others are necessary skills for the practice of democracy.)

2)     To create a structure (the organization of the Summit itself) in which democracy will not only be discussed and debated but put into practice; (this may occur through the development of the intercultural competencies noted above in combination with the construction of small workshops where “consensus,” or some other democratic, process is used under the direction of trained (student and/or faculty) facilitators.   

3)     to enable participating individuals, groups, and communities to discover

—and/or further develop and explore--common interests, share skills, resources, and visions in order to further democratic efforts both within and among said participants.

In sum, the Summit is not a conference; its goal is not knowledge-exchange/production as such.  Rather, it is a forum in which students—and others—can develop and learn to function as informed political agents able to address conflicts in and among their communities all the while creating democratic structures to combat various kinds of inequality.  (Thereby satisfying the 2^nd and 3^rd goals of the grant)

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