The Conversation Continues at Trinity

Dialogue is one of the most powerful acts we have for learning, healing, and moving forward together. At Trinity University, dialogue is more than a classroom exercise; it’s a practice embedded in our identity. Through The Conversation, a series dedicated to fostering constructive dialogue, Trinity creates intentional spaces where people can engage across differences with courage and humility. It is part of our commitment to being a laboratory for democracy, where diverse voices come together to tackle hard questions, share lived experiences, and imagine new possibilities.

This Fall, The Conversation invites our community to step into that practice of dialogue. The events are chances to encounter stories, some rooted in our own city’s past, others challenging us to consider the present that expand our understanding of one another and of the world we share.

Remembering the Walkout

On Tuesday,  September 30, Trinity will host a screening of The Walkout, a documentary about the 1968 Edgewood Walkout. Nearly six decades ago, Mexican American high school students in San Antonio staged a walkout to protest inequities in their schools. Their courage helped spark change and became a defining moment in the struggle for educational justice in our city and beyond.

The film screening, offered in partnership with the H.E. Butt Foundation’s Know Your Neighbor initiative, will be followed by a facilitated conversation. Attendees are welcome to share reflections not only on the legacy of the Edgewood students but also on the challenges that persist today. Over pizza and dialogue, the Trinity and San Antonio communities will come together to honor the past and ask what it means to carry that legacy forward.

Register for this event.

Breaking Down Everyday Walls

A week later, on Wednesday, October 8, the conversation continues with an evening dialogue with Anand Pandian, Ph.D., Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. In his latest book, Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and How to Take Them Down, Pandian examines the invisible barriers that divide communities, walls of misunderstanding, mistrust, and missed connections.

Moderated by Trinity’s own Tahir Naqvi, Ph.D., professor of sociology and anthropology, this conversation will invite attendees to imagine what it takes to bridge divides. What would it mean to live differently, to truly listen to one another, and to practice courage and humility in the spaces between us?

“Trinity is fortunate to have Dr. Pandian, a leading cultural anthropologist, on campus to discuss his new book. Something Between Us is a timely and beautifully written intervention. Its ambition is to make sense of how we've become so politically and socially divided in America,” Naqvi says. “Pandian does this by delving into the spaces, practices, and apprehensions of everyday life. People on both sides of the political spectrum will be inspired by Dr. Pandian's powers of encounter and empathy.”

Register for this event.

A Laboratory for Democracy

Together, these events illustrate the spirit of The Conversation at Trinity: not debates to win, but spaces to learn; not forums of division, but laboratories of democracy.

By remembering the courage of the Edgewood students and engaging the insights of leading scholars like Pandian, Trinity affirms its commitment to dialogue as both a method and a mission. These are opportunities to connect across disciplines, across differences, and across experiences. To deepen understanding and to strengthen our community.

To learn more about The Conversation at Trinity, or to explore additional events in the series, visit www.trinity.edu/events/conversation-trinity.