Announcing Civic Friendship Scholars Program

An email message sent to the campus community on November 8, 2024:

Dear Assumption Community,

Thank you to everyone who attended last night’s inaugural event hosted by the Center for Civic Friendship. Our enlightening panel discussion on “Prospects for Civic Friendship” marked an important milestone for Assumption as we seek to become a national resource and voice for friendship as a foundation for civic life, showing that communities can thrive through shared commitment to truth-seeking, humility, and intellectual generosity. I would like to especially thank Dr. Mary Jane Rein, Director of the Center for Civic Friendship, for organizing and hosting the event. Mary Jane also announced our new Civic Friendship Scholars Program during her introduction, and I am pleased to share more details about this initiative with you today.

Our inaugural cohort of Civic Friendship Scholars, chosen by a committee of faculty led by Mary Jane, will join us in Fall 2025. Each Civic Friendship Scholar will receive an annual scholarship toward housing and a stipend for books, renewable for four years. Housing over four years is central to this initiative because living in community offers an invaluable opportunity to cultivate meaningful relationships, encouraging students to build bridges across differences. This experience will empower our Scholars to embody the principles of civic friendship, both here at Assumption and beyond.

The Civic Friendship Scholars Program, along with the Center for Civic Friendship, is designed to prepare students to flourish as thoughtful citizens dedicated to the common good. The program is not only about navigating political differences but about learning how to engage constructively across all kinds of differences. This extends to philosophical, religious, and scientific differences—areas where deep convictions can sometimes divide. Whether it’s the differing views between neuroscientists and philosophers about the nature of the mind, or among people of different faith traditions, we hope that Assumption’s approach to civic friendship will help students engage with curiosity, respect, and openness.

Civic friendship goes beyond civil dialogue; it challenges us to cultivate a community grounded in active listening, mutual respect, and a shared pursuit of truth, where disagreement is not only permissible but essential in the context of a common purpose. The inaugural cohort of Civic Friendship Scholars will have a unique opportunity to help shape thefuture of this program, building a legacy of respect and constructive engagement at Assumption that we hope will endure.

Applications for the Civic Friendship Scholarship will open on December 15 for admitted students. More details are available on our website , and I encourage you to share this wonderful opportunity with any high school students or teachers you may know. 

Thank you all for your extraordinary contributions and commitment to creating a community rooted in civic friendship.

Warm regards,

Greg Weiner, Ph.D.
President