Dear gentle reader,

Welcome to the summer edition of the BISLA Newsletter, our rather sporadic periodical.
A lot has happened in the Spring semester of 2024, and there is much to look forward to in the Fall semester of 2025. The academic year 2023/2024 was also an election year, not only in Slovakia with its parliamentary and presidential elections but in one-third of the world. Along with the war in neighboring Ukraine and the violent conflict in Israel and Palestine, they left a mark on what we thought about, discussed, pondered, and worried about in and outside the classrooms. Many will attest that our dire circumstances made learning more alive and more pertinent to our daily lives than ever before. It has also inspired many to be engaged as volunteers, organizers, and activists.

In this issue, we take a look back at the events in the past semester and outline what awaits us in the next academic year. We also bring you an interview with a current student Tomáš Čorej who opted to spend a year away and is sharing his experiences with us.

Last but not least, we would like to point your acute attention to one pressing issue in each newsletter. This edition ponders the impact of technology, particularly of cell phones, in the classrooms. Scholarship on teaching and learning, to offer a spoiler alert, is quite united in conclusions, that while there may be some benefits to increase in motivation or engagement if mobile phones are directly used as part of the education process, the negatives far outweigh them, not just for the cell phone user, but for their surrounding as well. But do not take our word for it, join us in the exploration of what is already known about the topic.

In the Rearview Mirror

J-TERM
Behind us, fair reader, is a very fruitful semester. Here are but some of the highlights of the past few months. Although it seems like a few lightning years ago, the semester started with a very intensive January Term. The second-year students shared company with Plato and his Republic for five weeks, while first-year students peeked into the world of statistics, making acquaintances with validity, reliability, chi square and other usual suspects.

HUMAN RIGHTS OLYMPIAD
In early February, as is already an established tradition, BISLA hosted the regional round of the Human Rights Olympiad. High school students from the Bratislava region competed in their knowledge and argumentation skills. They were accompanied by their teachers, and welcomed by prof. Iveta Radičová.

HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY COMPETITION
In February, we celebrated the winners of Bisla’s third annual high school essay competition, this time on the place of artificial intelligence in our lives and societies. Let us congratulate again Milica Petrušová from Prešov, who earned the first prize, which was also read out loud by Božidara Turzonovová. The second place went to Sofia Prídavková from Banská Bystrica, and third to Lea Chromiaková from Piešťany. We have received around two hundred of inspiring essays, which gives us hope for the future.

STUDY TRIP TO SARAJEVO
Among the highlights of the past semester was the rather spontaneous trip to Sarajevo. 17 students and teacher Dagmar Kusá piled into two large vans and set off to Bosnia and Herzegovina to explore the heritage of the violent past on the political present. The Sarajevo posse visited the History Museum and the Srebrenica Memorial Center, learned about the history of diversity in the city of Sarajevo, and met several experts on the totalitarian past and ethnic conflicts. Short but intense, the memories of the trip will linger for a long time.

SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN DIALOGUE
In the past academic year, BISLA launched the Allen Kassof Center for History, Art, and Ethnic Conflict in Central Europe. Among its first activities was the three-day Slovak – Hungarian Dialogue between the students of BISLA and the students of the National University of Public Service in Budapest, considering issues that have historically divided the Slovaks and Hungarians, as well as those that can connect especially the young generations today.

GRADUATION
The semester finished with a glorious graduation of another year of wildly successful graduates who, after defending their masterpieces–their bachelor theses–spread their wings and are taking off to graduate schools and work positions, making us proud already.

Bislians did not remain idle even after the semester’s end. This year, a group of students, under the leadership of Jonáš Jánsky, himself a BISLA alumnus, and a PhD candidate at the Central European University, undertook the exploration of recent history of Central Europe in our  Summer School session.

BIH DISCUSSIONS AND KRITIKA & KONTEXT
Throughout the year, in the good old BISLA tradition, there have been several public discussions on topics that trouble and fascinate us. Read about some of them, as well as about the new issue of  Kritika & Kontext, No. 61, which discusses the continued relevance of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.

STUDENT LIFE
BISLA student community itself was busy enough to populate a whole another newsletter. Music, history, sport, film, art societies and clubs were meeting throughout the semester. The Student Council organized fabulous monthly brunches and all-community gatherings, and the Academic Senate was busier than ever. We enjoyed the second Wellbeing Day–a wonderful opportunity to take a break from daily routine and stress and devote time to relax, workshops, yoga, arts and crafts, ping pong tournaments, and more.

What’s the Matter?

This rubric highlights one pertinent issue that many a brain in the scholarship on liberal arts and sciences is preoccupied with in our troubled and challenged societies.

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
In this issue, we want to highlight the topic of the use of technology in the classroom, which will be a subject of student-led deliberations at BISLA this coming academic year. The project AI Aware Universities (more on that below) will engage students, faculty, and staff in consideration of the ethical use of AI at universities. However, here we wish to look at the technology that has accompanied us daily for a number of decades already: laptops and especially mobile phones. They make our lives easier and more organized, and information readily accessible at any hour of the day. But is their use beneficial to students in the classroom? Here, we look at the existing research from various corners of the world and disciplines to summarize what the collective global we know so far on the subject.

What Awaits Ahead

Next semester will be packed with academic as well as fun activities. Several new initiatives will be starting in September — we are happy to let it be known we joined a six liberal arts colleges project, AI Aware Universities, which will foster a deliberative process in our community, formulating guidelines for the effective and ethical use of AI in the classrooms, involving students, faculty, and staff.

Another important event that will take place at BISLA late next Fall is the ninth Liberal Herald conference, this year devoted to the decline and hybridization of democracy, recalling the values of human rights, democracy, and rule of law set out in the Helsinki Accord half a century ago. The call for abstracts is now open to students and experts alike.

We are also delighted to announce the start of a two-year-long Erasmus+ faculty exchange program between BISLA and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, revolving around the topics of memory, trauma, and democracy. This partnership will be particularly valuable in the preparation of the next year’s Summer School in Sarajevo, which will bring together students from Slovakia, Hungary, Western Balkans, and Ukraine (with guests from South Africa and the USA) to focus on conflict transformation and democratic development in societies weighed down by the trauma of violent conflict.

The Fall semester will traditionally kick off with the Orientation, which will bring students, faculty, and staff together for a few days outside of BISLA, near Topoľčany in the mysterious Tribeč mountains. This gives the opportunity to the incoming students to get to know older students, teachers, and staff before the semester fully starts, and for all to mingle, relax, and gain energy for the few months of labor ahead. Teachers will have their own orientation of sorts–a two days long “Boot Camp” organized by the Teaching and Learning Center fostering coordination between teachers and their courses, learning about best practices and innovative teaching, and so on.

But before the autumn leaves start to blush, dear reader, we shall say adieu to summer with a series of Blues Mondays. Come enjoy the tunes of whithering summer with us at the BISLA garden on August 26 and September 2.

Fare thee well, gentle reader, till we meet again.

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