Nation’s Oldest Student-Led Conference Continues

Principia College’s long tradition of hosting the student-led Public Affairs Conference (PAC) continues the rich legacy of bringing top-notch speakers of national and international caliber to the College—at least virtually. PAC was canceled last year near the start of pandemic restrictions. This year, organizers have nimbly pivoted to online events, potentially opening the conference up to a wider audience than ever.

The theme for PAC 2021 is “Engage with Perspectives—Develop a New Lens” and the conference takes place April 8–10. Registration is still open to all current students, staff, faculty, alumni, and Principia friends. There will be live viewings of the talks in Wanamaker Hall (with masks and social distancing) for those on campus wanting to participate together.

“One of the perks of having this be a virtual conference is that we can share this opportunity with people outside of the Prin community more than we could before,” PAC Co-Director Sanaya Baldauf says.

The PAC board was able to re-invite most of the speakers from last year, but with a twist on the media literacy theme identified for last year. The PAC board “really wanted to shift it more to the civil-discourse aspect,” Sanaya says. “Not a lot of people were having productive conversations and listening to each other. By having a conference that really focused on how to have those conversations and how to see things from different perspectives and develop that new lens, we felt that it would be really beneficial to all people on both ends of the political spectrum and in life.”

You can find bios on all of the speakers on PAC’s student-created website as well as dates and times for each talk.

Alexander Heffner, host of The Open Mind on PBS, kicks off the speaker lineup with his talk about improving civil discourse. Heffner has covered American politics, civic life, and millennials since the 2008 presidential campaign.

Bruce Bond, co-founder, CEO, and chair of Common Ground Committee, will address the issue of “Bringing Light Not Heat to Public Discourse.” The Common Ground Committee is a citizen-led nonprofit whose purpose is to bring healing to the challenges of polarization and incivility.

David Ryan Polgar will discuss “Improving the Information Ecosystem: A Collaborative Multi-Stakeholder Approach.” Polgar is a tech ethicist, “Responsible Tech” advocate, and expert on ways to improve social media and the information ecosystem.

Heather McGhee will finish off the conference with a talk on her New York Times bestseller, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone, and How We Can Prosper Together.” McGhee is an expert on the American economy and an influential thinker exploring inequality today. Both her viral TED talk and The Sum of Us reveal the devastating full cost of racism—not just for people of color, but for everyone.

“A really big takeaway that I hope people will have is the ability to take a step back and breathe and say, ‘If I put myself in their shoes how do I see this [issue] now?’” says PAC Co-director L. Kincaid Holmes.

You can learn more and register for the 2021 Public Affairs Conference on the student-created website.