Johns Hopkins, Columbia Uni, & U of Chicago Roll Out New Admissions Requirements

Students hoping to secure admission to one of the six American Universities can now submit a “civility transcript” demonstrating their temperament to be part of politically active campuses.

Students at University in USA

A selection of elite universities in USA are now allowing applicants to submit a “civility transcript” as part of their university applications, adding an extra evaluation criterion, at a time when debate regarding free speech is rising across university campuses in the USA.

What is a Civility Transcript?

A Civility Transcript is a record of an applicant’s participation in debates involving polarizing topics, such as the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Immigration, and Income Inequality, among other issues.

Which Universities are accepting Civility Transcripts?

As first revealed by Schoolhouse.world, the likes of Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, UChicago, Northwestern University, Colby College, and Washington University in St. Louis are accepting Civility Transcripts from students for admission to the upcoming academic session.

How can I get a Civility Transcript of my own?

Each of the universities mentioned above has partnered with Schoolhouse.world, a non-profit tutoring platform, that generates these civility transcripts.

Students can register on the same, engage in debates with other students, and generate a civility transcript of their own.

How does the debate work?

As part of the program, students aged between 14-18 years of age are paired with other students with different views on a topic to engage in debates, with an average duration of 45 minutes.

The scoring system allows students to give marks to each other on several key personality traits, including empathy, respect, and open-mindedness, among other things.

A Civility Transcript is generated that highlights the number of debates a student engaged in and the subsequent scores attained by the student.

This could then be used as part of the university applications.

How many students are currently participating?

Per Campus Reform, the pilot program has seen more than 600 participants and over 2,000 hours of discussion take place.

Those in support of the program argue that it helps identify students with the ability to productively engage on politically active campuses, while skeptics argue about the ability to measure civility via this method.

According to Education Week, program organizers say early trials have found most debates ending with students finding a common ground, with plans to expand the program in K-12 districts.