Democracy and Knowledge

In this kickoff event, SAS Dean and physicist Mark Trodden, along with current director of the SAS Commons and historian Sophia Rosenfeld, will introduce and discuss the 2026–28 theme, Democracy and Knowledge. Among the questions to be explored are: What makes for a healthy democracy? Is the democratic model really in crisis today and if so, why and where? How have universities been impacted? What role have universities played and can they play in strengthening democracies? And more specifically, how do the different ways of thinking and kinds of knowledge produced by core disciplines in the physical and natural sciences, the arts and humanities, and the social sciences potentially contribute to this effort?