TL;DR: This is a written version of a talk given at EAG Bay Area 2023. It claims university EA community building can be incredibly impactful, but there are important pitfalls to avoid, such as being overly zealous, overly open, or overly exclusionary. These pitfalls can turn away talented people and create epistemic issues in the group. By understanding these failure modes, focusing on truth-seeking discussions, and being intentional about group culture, university groups can expose promising students to important ideas and help them flourish.

Introduction.

Community building at universities can be incredibly impactful, but important pitfalls can make this work less effective or even net negative. These pitfalls can turn off the kind of talented people that we want in the EA community, and it's challenging to tell if you're falling into them. This post is based on a talk I gave at EAG Bay Area in [...]

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Outline:

(02:12) Why University Community Building Can Be Impactful

(03:03) Common Pitfalls in University Group Organizing

(03:26) Pitfall 1: Being Overly Zealous

(05:06) Pitfall 2: Being Overly Open

(06:41) Pitfall 3: Being Overly Exclusionary

(08:09) Other Pitfalls

(08:33) These Pitfalls are Sneaky

(09:04) Checking Your Blind Spots

(10:34) An Aspirational Vision

(11:45) Ways I Could Be Wrong

(12:32) Conclusion

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
May 8th, 2024

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vHZb7PvGstmsCD4Ni/potential-pitfalls-in-university-ea-community-building

--- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.