Developing the intellectual curiosity, judgment, and character needed to learn seriously, disagree thoughtfully, and form lasting friendships across differences
The Center creates sustained opportunities for students to read carefully, argue honestly, listen generously, examine evidence, recognize cognitive biases, and learn from people whose views differ from their own. Through lunch conversations, film screenings, reading groups, public events, student-led programming, and leadership opportunities, CEVIHE supports students who want to ask difficult questions with intellectual seriousness and civic maturity. Students learn to articulate their own views clearly, construct thoughtful opposing arguments, and remain engaged when disagreement is difficult, unresolved, or uncomfortable.
Lunch Series
Politics and Culture from All Sides is CEVIHE’s flagship lunch series. Students, faculty, and staff gather weekly to discuss contested political, social, cultural, economic, and moral questions through serious readings, faculty-guided discussions, and occasional guest speakers. The workshop gives participants a recurring space to encounter arguments they may not hear elsewhere, test their own assumptions, and practice thoughtful disagreement. The series is designed to emphasize careful reading and argumentation.
Edge Fellowship
The Edge Fellowship is the Center’s selective program for incoming first-year undergraduates who want to lead with humility and courage as they confront the political, cultural, and moral challenges of the modern world. Fellows join a tight-knit community of serious students committed to deep learning and to grappling thoughtfully with contested issues from multiple perspectives. Through a rigorous first-year curriculum, camaraderie and skill building, close work with faculty and staff mentors, and ongoing participation in CEVIHE programming, fellows develop the intellectual capacity and civic maturity needed to ask difficult questions, engage across differences, and contribute to the culture of open inquiry at Tufts.
Public Events
CEVIHE hosts headliner events, public forums, and panel discussions featuring writers, scholars, journalists, policymakers, and civic leaders who bring rigorous, sometimes challenging perspectives to campus. These events serve as entry points into deeper learning. Students are encouraged not only to attend but also to ask questions, join informal meet-and-greets with guest speakers, participate in follow-up discussions, and help shape future programming.
Expanding Viewpoints Symposium
Each year, CEVIHE supports a student-led Expanding Viewpoints Symposium for undergraduates across Greater Boston to examine contentious and consequential public affairs and policy issues. Students help shape the theme, identify facilitators and keynote speakers, design the format, and model the kind of civil, respectful, constructive disagreement CEVIHE seeks to cultivate across campus. The conference also offers undergraduates a unique opportunity to build networks across local colleges and universities.
The 2026 Symposium, titled Grievance and Governance in a New Populist Era, explored how contemporary populist movements on both the left and the right have reshaped American politics, democratic governance, and debates over liberalism, representation, and institutional legitimacy. Students discussed affordability, higher education, immigration, and healthcare, examining how political grievance and institutional strain manifest across key domains of contemporary public life.
Student Leadership
The Center supports an integrated student leadership structure to give students a visible role in shaping CEVIHE’s work and help make engagement across differences a durable part of campus life. The Student Advisory Board provides regular guidance on programming, student interests, and campus dynamics. The Student Organizations Council brings together student organizations engaged in civic life, creating a structured forum for coordination and engagement across political, cultural, religious, media, and advocacy groups. The Student Conference Committee leads planning for CEVIHE’s annual student-led Symposium.
Each year, CEVIHE invites sophomores, juniors, and seniors who share the Center’s commitment to open inquiry and engagement across differences to apply for student leadership roles. Student leaders work closely with CEVIHE faculty and staff to guide programming, collaborate on campus events, mentor freshmen, and help shape future initiatives. More information and the application for 2026-2027 student leadership positions are available here. The deadline is Friday, June 19.
Film Series and Reading Groups
CEVIHE uses film, literature, classics, history, philosophy, and religion to help students examine questions of conscience, authority, individualism, belonging, conformity, and moral courage. Film screenings and interdisciplinary reading groups create smaller settings where students can explore difficult questions through shared texts and cultural works. These programs offer students additional pathways into CEVIHE’s work, especially those drawn less to political discussions and more to the moral and artistic dimensions of disagreement.