Paula Marantz Cohen, dean of the Pennoni Honors College.
The Pennoni Honors College and Thomas R. Kline School of Law partnered in the fall to promote civil discussions of hot-button issues through a new “Wednesdays at the Kline” series.
The public discussions were first hosted at the Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy in Center City every Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and then moved to monthly meetings until the pandemic, when they changed to virtual monthly meetings.
“These are conversations that people want to have, but are unable to find the space for,” says Melinda Lewis, the associate director of marketing and media for the Pennoni Honors College who moderates the discussions.
For law students who choose to attend, Kline School of Law Dean Daniel Filler said there is the added bonus of seeing how these types of conversations can be a part of creating law, part of the “construction of democracy” witnessed in real time.
Eileen Harrison, BS ’60 and a resident of South Philadelphia, started coming to “Wednesdays at the Kline” discussions regularly because she liked the idea of having a forum to discuss the issues of the day.
“I’m very much committed to the idea of people coming together and working out problems as a group. I think there’s great merit in that,” says Harrison. “We are in a time now when we live in a bubble and it’s hard to understand why people feel the way they do.”