Salem State Debate Aims To Talk Heated Topic With Civil Discourse

SALEM, MA — A public university first in Massachusetts is designed to bring civil discourse to a debate that has been at the heart of so much vitriol across the country over the past few years.

The topic for the first Salem State University Braver Angels debate Wednesday night: "Should government health and safety measures outweigh individual freedoms?"

Amid often-bitter public battles over mask mandates and vaccination requirements over the past three years, the question has been the tug of war between those who believe it is the responsibility of the many to benefit the collective society and the most vulnerable within it, and those who believe it is up to the individual to make personal choices in the best interest of themselves and their families and loved ones.

The goal of the Braver Angels debate is to take a topic that might be immensely partisan and divisive and encourage a civil discussion through a parliamentary-style discourse.

"We wanted a topic that people were interested in and we would also have a nice breadth of opinions so it wouldn't just be a one-sided event," Salem State Professor of Politics, Policy and International Relations Vanessa Ruget told Patch on Monday. "We did surveys with staff, students and faculty and this was one that met those criteria."

The event will be Wednesday night from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Marsh Dining building on the Central Campus and is organized by the department of politics, policy and international relations in partnership with the Center for Civic Engagement.

It is open to the public both for attendance and participation.

Those interested in attending or participating in the debate can register here.

"It's meant to foster civil dialogue on college campuses," Ruget said. "These debates try to get students to really think together and listen carefully to each other around controversial issues.

"The idea is that maybe they will be moved by each other's stories and ideas."

Ruget said one concern she hears from her students leaning to the right and the left politically is the inability of those across the spectrum to at the very least understand each other's perspective, if not find a way to find common ground, on important issues.

"A lot of people in the United States today are concerned about the polarization of our country and are really looking for opportunities like these debates to engage with each other respectively and discuss ideas that are important to our community," Ruget said.

One of the hopes is that by exchanging views and ideas earlier in life students might remain more open to different perspectives later in life.

"It's a time where people are just starting to think about their own political opinions and how they fit within that landscape," Ruget said. "I am hearing from a lot of our students that they are starting to vote. They are starting to get interested in politics. They see the divisions within our political system. They find it frustrating and discouraging.

"They are happy to listen to people who have differing opinions. They just don't always have the opportunity in the community to do so."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)