Following the assassination of conservative
influencer Charlie Kirk dozens of people across the country have lost their
jobs over social media comments they made in reaction you know Claire
Republican Congressman Derek Van Ordon threatened to poll federal funding going
to the city over comments to council members made online saying they
celebrated Kirk's death the council members reject that accusation political
discourse especially online and in social media even before Kirk's
assassination has been beyond toxic but how to agree to disagree and talk
about it bridge Eau Claire is a chapter of bridge USA which brings college
students of different persuasions together to discuss polarizing topics
UW Eau Claire political science professor Adam Coons is the group's
faculty advisor and professor thanks a lot for being here thanks for having me
so do you suppose at your next session you will be discussing Charlie Kirk I
believe the students actually already have they've had their first session and
they have discussed openly about what their views are on the on the event and
I believe the students are going to have an ongoing conversation about it
probably throughout the year what kinds of other topics has bridge Eau Claire
engaged on so bridge Eau Claire is basically what I would describe as the
anti debate club the goal of the club is basically to be a conversation club
it's less about winning an argument it's more about trying to discuss and
understand one another in terms of our perspectives on politics culture religious
backgrounds etc and so the topics can be far-reaching it can be anything from is
a hot dog a sandwich all the way up to should the United States disassociate
from Israel so those those kinds of topics can be rife with lots of different
opinions and the goal behind any bridge meeting is basically to bring people
from all different perspectives into a room feel empowered to be able to share
your opinions and to try to understand one another the goal is not to convince
the goal is not to win the goal is to basically try to get students listening
to one another understanding in a very sincere and genuine way and then going
away and kind of processing that for your own beliefs so what are the ground rules
what are the mechanics of these discussions how do you start yeah so
that's been a learning experience this took off a couple years ago when we
decided after an event that was run by the Menard Center for Constitutional
Studies which is what I'm affiliated with on campus that we wanted to found a
club like this it this is less about free speech which is certainly right that
every American citizen has this is more about how do I exercise my free
speech in responsible ways and to allow other people to express those free
speech rights and so the ground rules are very much first of all guided by the
national organization it's there's there's a whole handbook that the
students go through to kind of figure out how they would bring up a topic there's
moderating time there is a club president there are people that are in charge
for picking the topics themselves but then within the local organizations
there's a lot of adaptability and Eau Claire students who are very polite
students they've got you know Wisconsin nice and so I think that they they add
this extra layer of kind of wanting to build a community despite political
differences and I I have to admire the Gen Z students because I think they are
looking for ways to build that kind of social connection in a world that's
mostly driven by algorithms so how to that how eager have you found students
to engage in actual civil discussion with this generation possibly craving real
connections yeah I think so I've I've watched I've been teaching for about 10
years in different capacities and I've watched as the Gen Z population has
started to mature and it's interesting we're about three years away from having
our first gen alpha student in college which makes me feel so old but the the
Gen Z students are absolutely looking for ways to connect but there's this feeling
among them that they don't really know how to connect um there's this kind of
catch 22 they want a social situation they want to find a community but they're
so used to being targeted or trolled online they're scared to be able to
express their opinions and so clubs like bridge are a great way for them to
learn you know those social skills in a real way and to do so in a closed
environment where they don't feel like they're going to get piled on or
misunderstood or have something screen-shotted and taken out of context circling
back to Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination do you sense a
chilling effect on freedom of expression with people across the
country right now I think that there is a huge divide right now
over the terms of free speech I think that for
many Americans if you ask them on Pew research questions for instance
it's it's over a 90 threshold that Americans cherish the value of free
speech I think the challenge that we always have
though is what does that mean when it's the other person expressing it
everybody wants free speech for themselves
query as to whether or not we're gonna allow free speech for others
they're of course at categories of speech that are
not protected we know what those are incitement
obscenity etc but for the most part our first amendment protects us it gives
us the chance to be able to express ourselves and especially on university
campuses that means both republican as well as
democratic students and so I think that the universities have a
real opportunity right now to show that you know in a pluralist society where
people come with multiple beliefs the university can be a place where
people express themselves and do so in ways they're not going to be
silencing to them to them I wish that we could
replicate that in the rest of the public sphere I wish that we could
help other Americans after college or in other areas of life
recognize that that is really the lifeblood of what we're doing in our
American democracy indeed professor Adam Coons thanks very
much thank you for having me
that was great thank you thank you appreciate it we'd love to reach out to
you again important yeah yeah I'd love to chat again great thank you
all right well thank you very much I guess I'll drop off
okay thanks Marissa