Molly Landis ’27
News Editor
In honor of Sexual Respect Week, on Thursday, Feb. 13, SPEECH Peer Educators hosted a Dialogue Dinner examining and exploring the question: “What is the role a Catholic college or university plays in sexual education?” SPEECH stands for Students Promoting Empathy, Expression, and Civic Harmony. They are a campus group composed of like minded students committed to educating their peers about healthy free speech and expression. To open the dialogue dinner, Peer Educator Julia Kane ‘27 gave a reflection and explained how the dinner would work. Fr. Jim Hayes gave an opening reflection on his thoughts on the question of the Catholic college in sexual education. The head of Health Services, Kelsey DeVoe, also spoke. Lastly, before truly kicking off the Dialogue Dinner, Peer Educator Thomas Manzo ‘27 listed a series of stats about sexual education in Catholic colleges as part of “Five Questions from Dean Todd.” Margaret Baum ‘25, SGA Director of Sexual Respect & Awareness on the SGA Cabinet reflected upon Sexual Respect Week and highlighted the last few events of the week.
During the dinner, students and faculty alike were able to discuss the role of Catholic colleges in sexual education, the role of Catholic colleges in health education in general, benefits or disadvantages of formal sexual education on campus and the Jesuit responsibility to uphold Catholic social teaching. To close, students discussed the question, “What is one new idea or question you are taking away from this conversation that you want to continue to think about, talk about, or address in some way?”
Dialogue Dinners are a great place for students to connect on a variety of topics. Manzo stated, “I love being a SPEECH Peer Educator” and remarked, “We need to learn how to have healthy disagreements.” Reflecting on her first Dialogue Dinner, DeVoe said, “Developing communication skills is so important. Knowing how to communicate without anger is so important. As a staff member, I like hearing the opinions of students. I love events like this, where I get to hear from students and learn where they come from.” Kane said, “Dialogue Dinners are one of my favorite parts of being here at Holy Cross, and I find that so many attendees are eager to discuss, learn new perspectives, and share their ideas in a collaborative environment. It’s truly a unique offering that adds a lot to our campus community and students should not shy away from this opportunity.” One of the faculty advisors, Dean Bata, reflected a similar sentiment, saying how important it is “to figure out how to get along with someone.” Disagreements are part of life and these Dialogue Dinners are helping students have productive and meaningful conversations even when differing in opinion. If you are interested in attending a Dialogue Dinner, the next one will be held on March 18 and will address a similar topic: “What should the role of politics be in public health?” This event will feature a panel including Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Copy Edited by Yana Giannoutsos
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu
Featured image courtesy of The Worcester Telegram
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