April Fools: EI Solves Polarization Crisis with New Lecture Series
Iuliano introduces the speaker at his civil discourse series (Photo courtesy of the Eisenhower Institute)
By Katie Oglesby, News Editor
President Bob Iuliano announced via a campus-wide email on Apr. 1 that the recent Eisenhower Institute Lecture Series intended to combat political polarization on campus has, in fact, solved the polarization crisis.
Instead of having separate clubs, College Republicans, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), College Democrats, and Leftist Student Collective now meet at the same time in Mara Auditorium for a collective meeting. If they disagree, they disagree politely and minimally. The next Policy Debate will instead be a Policy Forum where everyone expresses similar opinions and doesn’t get into arguments about them. Everyone takes turns speaking without interrupting their peers.
“We’ve actually banned Twitter on campus,” said Iuliano. “We’ve found that it exposes students to polarizing political views and that our environment is better off without it.”
The Eisenhower Institute attributes the success of the lectures to students’ willingness to see multiple perspectives.
“We don’t believe in echo chambers,” said the president of the new Students Against Polarization club, sponsored by the Eisenhower Institute. “Instead, we listen to speakers who tell us how harmful polarization is and suddenly we don’t have anything but moderate political beliefs! And we have a higher respect for people who disagree with us … when they disagree with us at all!”
The Political Science Department reported that student engagement was at an all-time low.
“We just can’t get students to participate in class,” said the department chair. “They’re always politely agreeing with each other. It’s like no one knows how to play devil’s advocate anymore!”
