CHAUTAUQUA–Well, well, well. Isn’t this encouraging?

It may–may–be a new day at Chautauqua Institution.

What has just happened is worth applauding.

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You, faithful reader of this column, know that Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, or ABC, was formed in 2018. Its mission is “to achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua” Institution. ABC is its own Section 501(c)(3) organization, legally separate from the institution.

ABC was born when an ad ran in the Chautauqua Daily, the daily newspaper published during the nine-week summer season at the institution.

The ad suggested that those in favor of enhancing diversity of thought at the institution meet at a particular time on the Athenaeum Hotel porch.

So they did.

Since that meeting, ABC has grown into an organization that–as of the later ABC events of the 2024 Chautauqua season–had just short of 1000 supporters.

During most weeks of each Chautauqua season, the ABC speakers program is at 3 p.m. Monday in the Athenaeum Hotel parlor. The program is open to the public.

On its website, https://www.abcatchq.com, ABC posts videos of most of its speakers.

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ABC audiences have always been an enthusiastic bunch. The 2024 Chautauqua season, however, saw the audience count and the audience spirit grow even beyond what ABC had previously enjoyed.

By being there, one saw and felt it. The change was that obvious.

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Chautauqua Institution has always been hospitable to this column, which at the institution has primarily focused on ABC while also focusing on other events.

This column has always appreciated the institution’s hospitality.

Meanwhile, it’s no secret that ABC itself–from 2018 to 2024–didn’t enjoy, shall we say, enthusiastic welcome. Details are unnecessary to recount here today.

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Early in 2025 though, Chautauqua Institution experienced a significant change that is also no secret.

That change appears to already have had good consequences for ABC and, by extension, for the institution.

ABC’s board of directors–a principled, dedicated, and fun group, with some local members and most from elsewhere across the country–issued a stunning, knock-your-socks-off announcement on June 9.

The announcement recalled years of ABC’s “repeated attempts to encourage balance of ideas and thought” for Chautauqua’s five-day-a-week morning-amphitheater-lecture platform.

Following this “persistence backed by … our loyal supporters, the beginning of a breakthrough may have presented itself,” the board said. “A shift in leadership within the Chautauqua Institution (a)dministration has created an opportunity for current staff to reach out to the ABC board with new respect and awareness for” ABC’s Monday-afternoon-speakers program.

The board said institution staff approached the ABC board about extending the visit of a 2025 Monday-afternoon speaker so she could also give the Tuesday-morning-amphitheater lecture.

Which she will do, the board said.

Those unfamiliar with ABC’s adventures at Chautauqua Institution since 2018 may understandably wonder why such collaboration is a surprise. A pleasant surprise, mind you, yet still a surprise.

By contrast, those understanding the background can fully appreciate the institution’s “reach(ing) out to … ABC … with new respect and awareness.”

“Although the last seven years have been difficult for all of us who believe in balance through the freedom of thought and speech, we are cautiously optimistic, hoping you are too. This single collaborative event may be the beginning of a new chapter. It is important to note, ABC will continue on our journey … until the question of real balance is a core value in our beloved Chautauqua!” the board said.

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True, “this single collaborative event” between the institution and ABC is one small step in enhancing diversity of thought.

Yet it’s a significant and unprecedented step.

One needn’t go out on a limb to say such collaboration, between the institution and ABC, would have happened during no Chautauqua season before 2025.

May such collaboration continue, and may diversity of thought at Chautauqua multiply, not only for institution-sponsored events but also for events sponsored by others as well.

If it does, then oh how far we will have come.

Applause, applause for this step.

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Dr. Randy Elf’s Aug. 20, 2020, ABC presentation, on “How Political Speech Law Benefits Politicians and the Rich,” is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ebymA7xOo.

COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY RANDY ELF