School of Arts and Sciences

Critical Conversations

A required part of the Brandeis Core, the First Year Experience includes a series of “Critical Conversations” to introduce students to our academic community, to model the different types of intellectual inquiries available on the university campus, to create a shared experience, and to invite students to think and talk about issues that are central to their educational development and the world around them.

In particular, Critical Conversations feature interdisciplinary conversations that highlight both the range and substance of intellectual activity on our campus, and the ways in which different disciplines present evidence and rhetorical arguments. Because diversity, equity and inclusion are at the core of Brandeis’ history and mission, we value and seek participants with a variety of social identities as well as proposals that engage with ongoing conversations about diversity and social justice.

Fall 2023 Critical Conversations

Watch videos from previous Critical Conversations below.

• 2019-2020
• 2020-2021
• 2021-2022
• 2022-2023