A new University of Notre Dame virtual event series will aim to promote understanding and civil dialogue ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Called Bridging the Divide, the series will take the form of weekly, one-hour interviews between a moderator and two to three panelists.
The first event in the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 30 (Wednesday) and is titled “Beyond Good Manners: Promoting Civil Discussion on Issues that Divide Us.” Experts from Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University in the areas of writing and rhetoric, cognition and cognitive neuroscience, and network science and machine learning will discuss the pervasiveness of false information in our current environment, how to protect oneself against it, and the importance of truthfulness and fact-based arguments in civil discourse.
The full schedule for the six-part series is as follows:
“Beyond Good Manners: Promoting Civil Discussion on Issues that Divide Us”
- Live: Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. EDT
- Rebroadcast: Thursday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m. EDT
“Political Polarization in America”
- Live: Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. EDT
- Rebroadcast: Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. EDT
“Exploring Racial and Social Injustice and Inequality in America”
- Live: Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. EDT
- Rebroadcast: Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 11 a.m. EDT
“The 19th Amendment and the Myth that All Women Vote the Same”
- Live: Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. EDT
- Rebroadcast: Thursday, Oct. 22, at 11 a.m. EDT
“Civil Dialogue and Free Expression on College Campuses”
- Live: Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. EDT
- Rebroadcast: Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 11 a.m. EDT
“Reclaiming the Middle: Building Consensus in Government”
- Live and Rebroadcast: TBD
Sponsored by the Office of the Provost in partnership with the Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, Bridging the Divide is free and open to all members of the Notre Dame community as well as the public.
The series will be broadcast through the Notre Dame Alumni Association website ThinkND. Advance registration is required at think.nd.edu/registration-bridging-the-divide.
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on September 23, 2020.