With the 2024 presidential election only a week away, Jane Coaston visited the Andover community during All-School Meeting (ASM) on October 25 to discuss the importance of separating personal beliefs from policy issues. As the latest guest in Andover’s Presidential Election Speaker Series, Coaston aimed to help attendees navigate political conversations in a time of growing division and to promote thoughtful dialogue about policy.
Walking down the aisles of the chapel during her speech, Coaston repeatedly highlighted the need to separate one’s beliefs about policy from perceptions of candidates as individuals. She stressed that distinguishing between policy and personality leads to more meaningful conversation. Coaston elaborated on how to conduct effective conversations in an interview with The Phillipian.
“Too often, you’re not even agreeing on the same set of facts. Getting your facts straight and knowing the issue really well, and also some understanding of how the other side sees the same issue is really important to even begin having these conversations… and knowing that you’re not trying to win and you’re not trying to convince them. The ideal is not to have them be, ‘Oh my God, you’re so right.’ The ideal is to have a conversation that you could have again,” said Coaston.
Coaston also noted how modern politics often revolve around personal attacks due to people’s limited exposure to each other’s experiences. She elaborated on how Andover as an institution can help promote discussion that addresses and moves past different experiences.
“I think a lot about encouraging class diversity because I remember one of the biggest differences I had when I was in high school was that I was a scholarship student and I went to high school with people whose parents were really rich… Class matters too, especially in a place like this, where some people are going to be coming from backgrounds that are really, really wealthy, and some people are going to be coming from backgrounds that are not,” said Coaston.
Coaston continued, “Something else that people can do is just have more opportunities for people to meet and talk about literally anything else [other than their differences]. Finding those moments to find that commonality, because I know it sounds really trite, but what brings us together is often really powerful and can work across differences.”
Rania Ali-Svedsater ’26, an Associate board member of the Philomathean Society (Philo), expressed her appreciation for the administration’s recent efforts to foster healthy discourse on campus, but criticized the execution of choosing Coaston as a speaker. She noted that Coaston’s rigid opposition to debate seemed incongruous with her emphasis on balanced views and constructive argumentation.
“Coaston’s stance on civil discourse seemed somewhat contradictory. She promoted well-rounded argumentation and balanced views, but after my question, she was very adamant and rigid in her stance against debate. I feel there could have been a better way to exemplify civil discourse that wasn’t contradictory,” said Ali-Svedsater.
Ali-Svedsater continued, “The point of civil discourse is to evaluate all sides of an argument, even if you don’t agree with it… Debate is essentially at the heart of discourse and everything we do at school. The skills we use in debate, [which promote] fluent, well-constructed arguments, [are] central to discourse. I found it confusing and arbitrary for debate to be criticized so rigidly.”
While discussing the main points of Coaston’s talk, Allegra Lee ’27 mentioned how Coaston’s message about separating beliefs from political identity was a shift from the messaging she had heard before. Lee, who asked a question during the ASM, also reflected on Coaston’s response.
“I feel like my beliefs are what define me. My whole life, I’ve been told, don’t define yourself by your activities, don’t define yourself by what you do, but rather by what you think [and] what you feel… It wasn’t invalidating to hear that my beliefs don’t define me, or they aren’t actually my identity. It was just a bit strange to think about it because it makes you think, ‘If I’m not my beliefs and I’m not what I do, then what makes me me?’… While answering my question it almost felt like she was just reemphasizing points which she had already made. I still don’t really know what to think,” said Lee.
