Summary
Americans are losing the ability to talk to each other, especially when they disagree. This is happening on university campuses, too, where experts say students increasingly are drawn to professors, speakers, and fellow students who have similar backgrounds and views, and are failing to learn how to engage productively with opposing voices.
To that end, the SNF Agora Institute’s university debate initiative aims to model the habits and virtues of reasoned debate across different perspectives, and the possibilities for finding common ground amid disagreement.
The debate initiative will host a pair of marquee moderated debates each year that bring to the university major speakers, such as public intellectuals, former government officials, and media personalities. The program will also fund and support a number of additional debates organized by students each semester, to enable healthy debate to be a recurring feature of campus life.
JH Center for Gun Violence Solutions – 22/02/2024 (57:00)
Recent U.S. elections have been marked by threats, armed intimidation and political violence. As the 2024 U.S. general election approaches the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions hosted a webinar to discuss solutions against political violence and the threat of armed insurrection.
Expert panelists discussed the implications of these threats to our country, public perception, and steps our leaders must take to protect our democratic institutions laid out in the Center’s report “Defending Democracy”.
OnAir Post: JHU Debate Initiative
News
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, – April 13, 2023
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute’s University debate initiative co-hosted the debate on the Supreme Court featuring Neal Katyal and Jeffrey Rosen on April 6. This was the fifth event in the 2023 Foreign Affairs Symposium series “Paradigm Shift.”
The primary focus of the event was to use Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision from last year that decided there is no constitutional right to an abortion and overturned Roe v. Wade, to provide a better understanding of the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s ruling process. Both speakers were assigned positions to take on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization; the affirmative position would argue that the Dobbs case was correctly decided, while the negating position would argue that the case was wrongly decided.
In an email to The News-Letter, Louise Flavahan, dialogue and debate director of the SNF Agora Institute, conveyed that the event was planned in response to student interest.
“We’ve heard repeatedly that students know that the Supreme Court has become a flashpoint in American politics and is influencing many important policy and legal issues that directly impact their lives, but they don’t quite know or understand the details or how to effectively engage in the conversations going on about the Court or, perhaps most importantly, what they can do about it,” she wrote.
About
Overview
SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins launches university debate initiative
The initiative will host a pair of marquee moderated debates and support a number of additional student-organized debates each year.
Americans are losing the ability to talk to each other, especially when they disagree. This is happening on university campuses, too, where experts say students increasingly are drawn to professors, speakers, and fellow students who have similar backgrounds and views, and are failing to learn how to engage productively with opposing voices.
To that end, the SNF Agora Institute announced today that it is launching a new university debate initiative that aims to model the habits and virtues of reasoned debate across different perspectives, and the possibilities for finding common ground amid disagreement.
A healthy democracy depends on citizens being able to talk to one another across ideological differences. Yet during the 2016 presidential campaign, only a fifth of voters discussed politics with someone of the opposing party, down from one third in 2000. According to Pew, the share of Americans who hold a highly negative view of the other political party roughly tripled from 1994 to 2016. Meanwhile, research shows that universities are not doing their part to model debate across difference: most campuses only hold one event per year on average in which speakers debate a public policy issue from competing perspectives.
At this moment when public discourse seems poisoned by a polarized politics and a fragmented news and social media landscape, universities have a rare opportunity to showcase constructive debate and help students strengthen the skills to bridge divides.
“For many young people, college is the first time they will live and study alongside people whose backgrounds and beliefs differ significantly from their own,” Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels said. “As universities, we should be modeling the art of substantive, respectful disagreement and debate. With this new initiative, the SNF Agora will help to infuse our campus with that spirit, and I am excited to see the conversations it will inspire.”
The initiative will be led by a new dialogue and debate director with experience in debates, who will work in close partnership with a student committee to plan and carry out a series of debates over the course of each academic year. The director will moderate marquee events, guide the students directly involved in the initiative, and teach the values and methods of debate more broadly across the university. The dialogue and debate director is a new, full-time position within the SNF Agora Institute.
The Hopkins Student Organization for Programming will convene the new student committee, which will identify and select debate topics and speakers. This primarily student committee will comprise five to seven JHU students, a Center for Social Concern staff adviser, and a faculty adviser. Johns Hopkins students can apply to serve on the committee through the Hopkins Student Programming Board.
Beginning in the fall of 2022, the initiative will host a pair of marquee moderated debates each year that bring to the university major speakers, such as leading scholars, public intellectuals, former government officials, and media personalities. The program will also fund and support a number of additional debates organized by students each semester, to enable healthy debate to be a recurring feature of campus life.
“This new debate initiative is another way we hope to further SNF Agora’s mission of cultivating the modern-day agora, by bringing people with different beliefs, backgrounds, and ideologies together to contest values and ideas in a respectful, constructive way,” said Hahrie Han, inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute. “We are especially excited to be able to work closely with students on this effort, so that they have a voice in shaping the agora.”
Source: JHU Hub
Web Links
Upcoming Debates
See newsletter for fall 2024 debates
Previous Debates
University Debate Initiative Events
Debate: The Future of Climate Migration
Source: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
FAS and SNF Agora host debate on responses to climate change with Amali Tower and Patrick Brown
By Cathy Wang | March 20, 2023
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) and the SNF Agora Institute Debate Initiative cohosted the Debate on Climate Change Response with Amali Tower and Patrick Brown on March 16. This event was the third of six events in this year’s “Paradigm Shift” symposium series.
In an interview with The News-Letter, FAS Co-Executive Director Rachel Fink explained their process in planning this debate.
“We knew from the beginning that we wanted to have a talk on climate change because it’s a pressing issue. We chose climate refugees as the topic because we think it is an immediate and ever-growing issue but is not acknowledged adequately in conversation,” she said. “[Amali and Patrick] matched each other well in their different experiences and expertise.”
Being the first collaboration between FAS and SNF Agora, this was the first symposium event that adopted a debate format. The resolution of the debate was “climate change will cause a substantial increase in forced migration over time.”
Tower, climate activist and founder of Climate Refugees, took the pro position while Brown, climate and energy expert in academia and research, represented the con position. Louise Flavahan, the dialogue and debate director at the SNF Agora Institute, moderated the debate.
Debate: The Supreme Court
Source: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
FAS and SNF Agora organize debate on the role of the Supreme Court
By AIMEE CHO | April 13, 2023
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute’s University debate initiative co-hosted the debate on the Supreme Court featuring Neal Katyal and Jeffrey Rosen on April 6. This was the fifth event in the 2023 Foreign Affairs Symposium series “Paradigm Shift.”
The primary focus of the event was to use Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision from last year that decided there is no constitutional right to an abortion and overturned Roe v. Wade, to provide a better understanding of the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s ruling process. Both speakers were assigned positions to take on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization; the affirmative position would argue that the Dobbs case was correctly decided, while the negating position would argue that the case was wrongly decided.
In an email to The News-Letter, Louise Flavahan, dialogue and debate director of the SNF Agora Institute, conveyed that the event was planned in response to student interest.
“We’ve heard repeatedly that students know that the Supreme Court has become a flashpoint in American politics and is influencing many important policy and legal issues that directly impact their lives, but they don’t quite know or understand the details or how to effectively engage in the conversations going on about the Court or, perhaps most importantly, what they can do about it,” she wrote.
Debate: Donald Trump’s Accountability for the Insurrection
Source: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
Legal experts debate Trump’s role in Jan. 6 insurrection
London Craddock
December 4, 2022
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute hosted a debate on Nov. 29 between two legal experts over the most effective way to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Ronald Weich, dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law, defended the position that Trump should not be issued a criminal referral. Lisa Graves, executive director of True North Research, a progressive watchdog group, argued against it.
Although the House of Representative’s committee concluded that there is substantial evidence to warrant a criminal referral, a referral is not necessary for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute the former president.
In his opening statement, Weich argued that making a referral might actually work against the committee’s goal of accountability.
People
Dialogue and Debate Director
The initiative is being led by Louise Flavahan, our new dialogue and debate director, who will work in close partnership with a student committee to carry out a series of debates over the course of each academic year. Flavahan will guide students directly involved in the initiative and teach the values and methods of debate more broadly across the university.
Debate Initiative Student Committee
The Hopkins Student Organization for Programming (“the HOP”) will convene the new student committee, which will identify and select debate topics and speakers. This primarily student committee will comprise 5-7 JHU students, a Center for Social Concern staff adviser, and a faculty adviser.
