(Left to right) Miguel Alas, Scott Brinton, Dana Lopez, and Mario Murillo at the Objectivity and the Suburban News Desert: Navigating Journalistic Norms While Reporting in the Community panel. // Alexa D’Amato / The Hofstra Chronicle.
On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Hofstra celebrated its first Day of Dialogue since 2020. The theme for this year was “Building Hope in Trying Times” and included various speakers ranging from journalists, academics and community organizations who each addressed significant issues.
The Center for Civic Engagement presented six panels with topics ranging from gun control to immigration policies to human trafficking. The panelists were Hofstra professors and organizers from local organizations.
The Day of Dialogue celebration was created to dedicate one day to community issues that may not be portrayed on national news. The numerous panels and presentations tied together national issues with local issues to demonstrate that while these issues may not dominate the front pages of national news sources, they are still important to the community.
All sections were presented by a diverse group of individuals. Representation and diversity were highlighted as crucial in order to present an accurate depiction of their communities.
“When you’re talking about Hempstead, Uniondale and our backyard here at Hofstra University, and you don’t have a diverse panel, then you’re doing a disservice in terms of trying to understand what’s happening in the community,” said Mario A. Murillo, vice dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication.
Murillo moderated the panel Objectivity and the Suburban News Desert: Navigating Journalistic Norms While Reporting in the Community. “If you’re going to be talking about our local neighborhoods and you don’t have a diverse panel, then you’re really not talking about the local neighborhoods,” Murillo said.
The Day of Dialogue brought the Hofstra community together in many ways. Students attended various panel discussions throughout the day to learn from speakers, community members and each other. They shared inspirational and enlightening stories about their lives and their communities.
“The challenge is great because first of all, the communities think that they are invisible. You can see the person, but in reality, for everyone, they are invisible,” said Miguel Alas, executive director of The Workplace Project.
This event was an opportunity for students and community members to come together to learn about local issues.
“We hope people will learn more about the context of contentious issues and scratch a bit beneath the surface. This is particularly important in the weeks before election day – local elections are taking place around the country on November 7,” said Rosanna Perotti, a political science professor at Hofstra. “It’s important to be reminded of our roles as citizens and to remember that education has a purpose: to help inform that citizenship.”
Students found value in community involvement through the Day of Dialogue.
“The event opened my eyes to serious events happening in the Long Island area,” said Matt Fisher, a freshman journalism major.
Devoting a day to learning about local public affairs revived a sense of unity throughout departments and communities.
“Day of Dialogue brings people together across roles, across departments, across disciplines, in a discussion of public affairs,” Perotti said.
The format of the various seminars allowed students, such as Bridget Sawyer, a freshman journalism major, to attend panels and presentations on various local issues.
“As a journalism major, it’s important for me to understand how to accurately report on a community,” said Sawyer. “I was able to learn more about that by going to the community reporting panel and hearing from people who can give me good advice.”
The event allowed students to have an active interest and desire to be involved with the community to improve the world, one step at a time.
“[For] students [that] aren’t concerned and aren’t involved … and don’t play a role in trying to shape the future of what’s going on around us, my question is, why bother going to college?” Murillo said.