The Marianist difference

The conversation around the dinner table at Brother Ray Fitz’s house in the student neighborhood turned to the perplexing question, “What do you say to people who don’t agree with you?”

“Listen. That was his advice,” remembers junior political science major Jakob Burdick about the response of UD’s president emeritus.

That’s wise counsel, considering that Brother Ray has spent his life tackling complex issues with no easy solutions — poverty, child protection, neighborhood revitalization and urban education reform, to name a few.

Like Brother Ray, Jakob has internalized the Marianist approach of bringing people to the table, no matter their perspectives, to listen to each other respectfully and engage in meaningful dialogue that can spark change in our fractured world.

As a 2024-25 Newman Civic Fellow, Jakob represents “the next generation of public problem solvers” and personifies the type of engaged citizens and leaders for the common good we aspire to send out into the world. (See stories beginning on Page 34.)

“The Marianist charism of bringing everyone to the table and fostering community is not being done enough in our society. We all want the same things — equity, justice, reform. We need to look beyond (our differences) and look at problems head on,” says Jakob, who worked as a legislative aide for two Ohio representatives this summer as part of UD’s Statehouse Civic Scholars program and is now serving as vice president of UDayton Votes, a nonpartisan, student-led initiative that encourages voter and civic engagement.

Across campus, faculty from multiple academic units and varied perspectives are finding ways to cultivate habits of civic engagement and citizenship among our students. In Professor Nancy Miller’s political science capstone course, students are developing a civic engagement pledge. In the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, the Dayton Civic Scholars are celebrating two decades of making a community impact. In the student development division, up to 1,200 students this fall are expected to enroll in an online workshop, Civic Engagement and Dialogue. Students from all majors are cultivating their listening skills and learning to foster dialogue by participating in programs in the Dialogue Zone. Others will give up their fall break to take part in REAL Dayton, a community engagement immersion program sponsored by Campus Ministry.

I believe our work in preparing students to be engaged citizens of their community, city, state, nation and world is more vital today than ever.

“We don’t teach students what to think,” says Nancy McHugh, executive director of the Fitz Center. “Instead, we help develop within them the habit of critical reflection that positions them to think through the intricacies of politics and culture and to think for themselves about what their obligations are as citizens within a complex world that doesn’t offer easy solutions.”

Chris Fishpaw ’09, director of Student Leadership Programs, agrees: “I tell students our commitment to the common good is counterculture. We’re trying to graduate people who can rise above the noise in our culture.”

I’m confident our graduates can model new ways for listening to each other, finding common ground and working together to create positive change in our communities.

That’s the Marianist difference.