Over the 2025-26 academic year, the Burke Library partnered with Commonweal magazine to host a conversation series titled Roots: Dialogues for the Common Good. The goal of the series was to invite a range of brilliant thinkers to reflect on foundational questions that shape our educational and civic endeavors. As the title indicates, the questions were intended to explore basic and perennial issues we face both in an academic milieu and in society at large.

Each speaker was invited to prepare and deliver a fifteen minute answer to the evening’s question. Following that, the two guests engaged in conversation moderated by a Commonweal editor. Those in the audience were invited to participate in an extended question and answer period based on the answers and the subsequent conversation. 

The questions and guests for the full series were:

Fall 2025:

“Why Converse?,” with Tara Isabella Burton and Matthew Sitman
“Why Write?,” with Alyssa Wilkinson and Micheal O’Siadhail
“Why Read?,” with Roosevelt Montás and Adam Kirsch

Spring 2026:

“Why Pay Attention?,” with Jennifer Herdt and Shane McCrae
“Why Do We Suffer?,” with Lydia Dugdale and Dan Barry
“Why Try?,” with Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn and Dhananjay Jagannathan