The polarization of political, philosophical, and moral beliefs in the United States is now more glaring than ever, particularly at large intellectual institutions like our beloved University of Virginia. In the past three years alone, several new organizations have sprung up across the University in hopes of promoting productive discussion, including the Blue Ridge Center, Middle Grounds, and The Jefferson Independent itself. This issue has not gone unnoticed by UVA undergraduates, and so, the Civil Discourse Initiative was born.
The founder of this soon-to-be CIO is Jack Siegel, a third-year student pursuing majors in Music and Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law, as well as a minor in Public Policy through the Batten School. With his interest in good government and lawmaking, Siegel was quick to notice Hoos’ hesitation to engage with differing opinions.
“We have a problem with disagreement,” he conceded. “Not just between conservatives and liberals, although that’s a big target of efforts around the University, but also between liberals and leftists, and between leftists and leftists, and liberals and liberals. And 99% of the issues – they can’t talk about it, because they’re afraid that they won’t get along, that they’ll lose friends, or that they’ll subject themselves to social criticism.”
The Civil Discourse Initiative hopes to sponsor and host large-scale events in which a handful of people with vastly different opinions would get onstage and have a conversation about their beliefs. The key here is that it is not a debate, but an open dialogue intended to show that people who intensely disagree can still understand one another.
The goal of CDI, Siegel was quick to point out, is not to force compromise, but to help participants better understand one another. Disagreement does not mean that people cannot get along. “They can still be brave and sensitive and thoughtful and engage in dialogue” without ever coming to a consensus, Siegel confirmed. The key tenet of CDI’s mission is that disagreement is not something to be ignored or tiptoed past. Disagreement is essential to an academic community such as UVA; furthermore, disagreement is good because it helps us learn about one another and cultivate respect for others’ beliefs.
Although CDI was created in response to the problem of civil discourse at UVA, Siegel’s attitude towards the future of free expression is positive. “I think there are so many passionate students at UVA who really care and want to see something like this happen,” he says. “We don’t have a crisis, we have an opportunity.”
The CIO status of the Civil Discourse Initiative is pending, but they can be found at @cdi_uva on Instagram in the meantime! Keep an eye out for their future events so we can work towards making polite and productive discourse a hallmark of UVA once again.
I wonder if you’d be interested in the curriculum of “Meetings of Opposites” (https://meetingsofopposites.org), which I’ve been developing since 2012. It’s a series of workshop sessions, two hours each, needing only a room with projection capacity and access to an outside space. I’m happy to bring it to you if you think it might expand your reach and impact.
I’m demonstrating part of the curriculum at the JMRL “How-to Festival,” Saturday, May 4th from 10-1, in a presentation called “Perception versus Being Together.”