Campus News
By Jesse Dolojan, Staff Writer
Earlier this month, Dr. Adam Clark was selected to be the new director of Take It On. Since then, he has taken on efforts to lead and facilitate productive discussion on politics through engaging with students and campus political groups.
Take It On is an initiative within the office of the Provost, and the primary goal of the initiative is to create environments where students can participate in discussion regardless of their political stances.
Dr. Adam Clark, a professor in the theology department, has been named the new Take It On director after the resignation of former director Dr. Andrew Zolides earlier this summer.
Clark is a professor in Xavier’s theology department. He did not consider running to be the new Take It On Director, but he was nominated by a student and a faculty member. After receiving the nomination, he applied for the role. He met with student members of Take It On and Xavier faculty, and gave a public interview to the campus at large before becoming the new Take It On Director.
“My goal for this role is to talk about the role of civic engagement beyond voting. The job kind of writes itself right now because everybody is interested in the 2024 elections,” Clark said. “But I’m trying to think beyond that–and what does civic engagement look like post election? How do we actually get people to continue to make elected officials accountable and work for justice and social transformation beyond the 2024 elections?”
Clark believes his role as a theology professor has prepared him to lead discussion on controversial topics related to politics.
Take It On is a nonpartisan group dedicated to promoting Ignatian Civic Engagement and civic discourse.
“I thought that leveraging the Ignatian tradition that really talks about respect and dignity and fostering the common good could be helpful in this kind of political moment,” Clark said. “So that was really interesting to me, to make some of the Jesuit values very tangible and concrete through social and political practice, and that’s what kind of drew me to the job.”
Take It On hosts events open to all students regardless of their political beliefs or academic backgrounds.
“We want everybody to participate. So far in (Take It On’s) history, it’s been mostly dominated by students who are in PPP (Philosophy, Politics and the Public) or in political science, which is pretty natural because that’s what they do, that’s their passion, but I want everyone to feel comfortable speaking and learning about American politics,” Clark said.
Clark shared that collaborating with students and faculty members from different departments is one of his primary goals.
Junior PPP major and Take It On Fellow Christian Geary noted that ever since Clark was chosen as the new director, he has been focused on fostering civil discussion on politics, including the presidential election.
With the 2024 election around the corner, Adam Clark and Take It On have been partnering with other organizations on campus to inform students about upcoming issues on the ballot and encourage civic conversation surrounding political topics.
“He’s been very active in the community about Take It On, which is awesome. He’s collaborating quite a lot with some of the things that he’s been doing, and he’s been reaching out to former directors as well. So he’s really committing himself to the role. He is ready to take this thing completely head-on,” Geary said.
In November, Take It On plans to host a post-election debrief.
“I think the post-election debrief is gonna attempt to be everything that Take It On stands for, and I think it’s gonna be pretty informative and I would say if you have the time, definitely come out and see it firsthand,” Geary said.
