In her remarks for the occasion, Biden Institute Chair Valerie Biden Owens expressed appreciation for their leadership making this legislation possible: “You are all a model of what's possible when public servants set aside their differences, collaborate with one another, and reach a consensus on the best path forward for our communities. Real civil discourse requires work. It takes courage, empathy and a willingness to be humbled. It takes intention." Both Representatives Longhurst and Smith received awards from the SNF Ithaca Initiative, providing $5,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware and an additional $5,000 contribution to Sean's House. Both legislators recognized mental health was a real challenge facing young people and worked to address it—not with lofty rhetoric, but with action.
This type of intentionality and courage can seem to be diminishing, which is why it's important to hold up examples of it happening to remind ourselves of what we can and should do. Just days prior to this award given in Delaware Legislature Hall, a delegation from the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware attended the annual SNF Nostos in Athens, Greece. With a focus on the SNF Health Initiative, speakers highlighted the ways in which physical and mental health shapes communities.
SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos, reflecting on SNF Nostos Health, highlighted, “… achieving better health for all will require listening to new voices, trying out new approaches, and being willing to change the status quo and venture into unfamiliar territory." The ability to have honest and challenging conversations is critical to addressing numerous challenges—with health as the foundation. Civil discourse does not need to be passive or reserved. As Dracopoulos said, “… with clarity, humor and incisive insight, the young participants showed us that a better future is possible with health as its foundation—but also reminded us in no uncertain terms of our obligation to act now and act in a big way to make it so." This call for action is to address health inequities as well as the cultural and political issues that impact or exacerbate these issues. For this reason, thinking about a healthy democracy—in all senses of the phrase—becomes important when thinking about policy decisions.
During one SNF Nostos panel about science communication and democracy, Dr. Lauren Gardner, co-director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, spoke about information and its role in the pandemic. She is behind the creation of the Johns Hopkins University dashboard that has been used to share information about the COVID-19 pandemic—a vital global resource. As she and other panelists noted, it is not simply enough to have information and disseminate it. We need to think about how to articulate messages so they are accessible and received. Unfortunately, depending on the source, the best information can simply be disregarded as being “fake" or biased. If someone doesn't trust a source, even the soundest information is simply noise.
Another layer of communication to consider is disinformation–intentional effort to mislead or outright lie. In a polarized and partisan climate, it is easy to think about the use of disinformation across the political spectrum, rather than being asymmetrical, as being intentionally utilized by some with detrimental effects. Simply put, civil discourse becomes an instrumental component of addressing a global pandemic—or even the decline of democracy—if it is a pathway to people meaningfully engaging with ideas and others beyond their “bubble."
Thus, we must acknowledge that democracy is being seriously challenged around the world. We cannot afford to abandon this way of life even as we increasingly become a more diverse and pluralistic world, and some individuals retreat to nationalistic identities that exclude. So, what do we do? One response, both for legislatures and ordinary citizens, is civil discourse. Civil discourse allows us to engage, listen to understand and wrestle with competing ideas about public policy—what should we do? The challenge to institutional and cultural democracy is real, but so are our responses.
Earlier this year, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), the SNF Ithaca Initiative at the Biden School hosted nearly 100 students from 16 colleges and universities at the inaugural SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue. It was an opportunity for students to learn about civil discourse and its role shaping how we conceptualize and realize public policy on college campuses. Students worked through the policy process of naming an issue all the way to actionable steps to address it.
Speaking to the importance of this convening, Biden School Dean and Charles P. Messick Chair of Public Administration Maria Aristigueta noted that, “… at the Biden School, we recognize and prioritize the promotion of civility and discourse across political and philosophical divides. It was heartening to see such a diverse group come together from across the country to work on these important issues."
The opportunity—and challenge—was to think about real issues on various campuses and what the students would do upon returning to campus. Who has power? How has the issue facing one's campus been framed by university administration? What could student organizations do to address the issue facing their community?
As I expressed at the SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue, the SNF Ithaca Initiative has the potential to transform how people on our campuses, and ultimately citizens of our country, are able to work together despite differences and collectively impact and address the critical issues we all face. I made it a point to frame civil discourse within the broader context of the state of democracy. We can't simply think of civil discourse as good manners or politeness. We must also think about it as responsiveness to others and to our shared challenges.
Robert Danisch and William Keith write about a “strong" form of civil discourse that includes dialogue, deliberation and deep listening, as well as protest and civil disobedience. We need to recognize that ideas about how we're supposed to talk can sometimes hold us back from why we should engage others, especially when we have deep differences. We need to call out and challenge others, especially when they are advocating for something other than democracy. Retreating from public life because of disagreement does not heal the festering wounds to our body politic.
President Biden has long said, “all politics is personal." If that's the case, then we need to engage one another in a way that takes seriously the real challenges and opportunities to truly understand what others think and believe–especially those people we disagree with deeply. And we must challenge them when we believe certain actions and policies cause harm. Civility isn't simply politeness. Civil discourse affords opportunities for action rather than only experiencing frustration because we have retreated from our shared life rather than stayed in conversation, sometimes uncomfortably so, in order to seek a positive outcome. This is why civil discourse becomes such an important aspect of public policy: if we want to have a healthy democracy, we need to listen to understand. As a nation, we're sick. But it doesn't mean that we don't know some of the steps to take to begin to heal our situation—through both words and actions.
