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Promoting Civil Discourse on Campus

By Rita Bornstein

During the past several decades, off campus and on, much of the discourse on controversial issues has been personal, vicious, and divisive. On the national scene, politics has become permeated with incivility. Public disgust with ugly partisanship resulted in promises for more bipartisanship by President Barack Obama, as well as by his predecessor, former President George W. Bush. In each instance, we have been hopeful that our elected representatives would dig out from their trenches of absolutism and find common ground. We now appear to have been naïve about their ability and willingness to engage in civil discourse and compromise. If these processes are important to us and to the country, then we must find a way to teach such behavior to our students and our publics or I believe that civility in our society is a lost cause.

This country was forged through civil discourse, civil protest, and civil war. Although our founders occasionally resorted to duels to resolve their differences, for the most part they engaged in a search for common ground through spirited but civil discourse. The terrible losses of the Civil War remind us of what can happen when parties to a dispute hold irreconcilable views. Today, we know that the more moral arguments were those of the North: the protection of human rights and survival of the Union. We also know that there is a lingering attachment to states rights and resentment to policies designed to overcome the vestiges of racial discrimination. Today, deep schisms over issues such as the role of government in our society and the role of America in the world are impeding the ability of our elected officials to serve the American people. The flames of incivility have been fueled by the personal and ugly attacks our politicians make on those with different views, the egregious falsehoods shouted by talking heads on television and radio, and the uncontrolled stream of vitriol that is quickly and broadly disseminated through electronic social media. These behaviors perpetrate inaccurate, venomous, personally debasing, and grossly uncivil myths posing as truth.

Although the combat of the culture wars has not disappeared from our campuses, today the battles are being fought most fiercely on the national political stage. In the current environment, issues central to American life such as health care, economic recovery, war, and climate change are being disputed not discussed. . . . .

Excerpted from the winter 2010 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online.