The Center for Civic Friendship is launching the Civic Friendship Playbook, highlighting the power of sports as a way to foster connection, inclusion, and shared purpose. Whether you are an athlete or a fan, the lessons and values of sports offer a model for constructive engagement across difference.
What is the Civic Friendship Playbook?
The Civic Friendship Playbook has the potential to address some of the core challenges that college students face. Many feel pressure to stay silent, avoid difficult conversations, or fit in rather than speak honestly. At the same time, constant online connection can make it harder to develop meaningful friendships and a true sense of belonging. Civic friendship is not about simply being polite or avoiding conflict. It teaches students how to disagree honestly while staying connected, respectful, and committed to one another. Civic friendship means treating people with different views as partners in a shared learning community.
Alice Nderitu, the inaugural Civic Friendship Fellow, brings significant experience to developing this initiative. Her decades-long career as a mediator and peacebuilder in conflict-affected settings worldwide exemplifies the integration of moral seriousness, institutional leadership, and applied insight that defines the Center’s mission. As United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, she played a leading role in developing The Game Plan, the United Nations policy on countering hate through sports. Partnering with professional sports leaders, Nderitu chaired the Sports Working Group of Eradicate Hate, a major initiative formed in response to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh. At Assumption, she looks at the flipside of hate, borrowing from the framework established for The Game Plan but re-oriented toward the explicit formation of civic friendship.
Sports offer a powerful analogy for this work. Students in the program will help strengthen community life on campus by exploring the values, culture, and lessons of sports. You don’t have to be a varsity athlete — anyone who has played a sport, been part of a team, or simply loves sports is welcome. Participants will work directly with Ms. Nderitu to show how athletics can inspire leadership, bridge-building, and the common good.
Importantly, the Civic Friendship Playbook is not designed only for highly involved students, but also for those who may feel disconnected or unsure how to get involved. By using familiar language, visible campus activities, and team-based experiences, we can create welcoming and accessible entry points into campus life.
What is Civic Friendship?
Civic friendship is about building bridges, not tearing them down.
Rooted in a commitment to building strong communities, civic friendship encourages people from diverse backgrounds to connect beyond their differences, forming more welcoming and inclusive societies.
Civic friendship is the foundation of who we are at Assumption University. Through the Center for Civic Friendship, our mission is to cultivate the virtue of civic friendship in students and teachers at Assumption and across the nation.
Globally Renowned Peacebuilder and Conflict-Resolution Expert Alice Nderitu Appointed Civic Friendship Fellow at Assumption University
Nderitu has dedicated her life to building peace in some of the world’s most divided regions, including the Balkans, Nigeria, Myanmar, Kenya, and South Africa. As the inaugural Civic Friendship Fellow, she brings unparalleled global experience to Assumption’s mission of forming students who seek truth in the company of friends.