UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sept. 24, students, faculty, staff and community gathered to participate in dialogue across party lines at the recently held Jim Jimirro’s "Open for Debate." The premise of the event is to challenge participants to “disagree better,” and practice free speech through open dialogue.
Jimirro, a communications alumnus from Penn State's class of 1958, created the annual dialogue series to help enhance efforts already underway to reaffirm free speech as a cornerstone of Penn State's mission.
Teagan Boyd, a fourth-year student in the Presidential Leadership Academy, came to "Open for Debate" with the goal of being able to practice communication skills.
“I’ve been taught how to communicate more effectively during my classes in the Presidential Leadership Academy, and I thought this would be an excellent place to practice on a bigger scale with people who I just met,” said Boyd.
Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi opened the program with an affirmation of University's commitment to the first amendment and freedom of speech.
“We need nuance, and a chance to grapple with challenging ideas,” Bendapudi said.
Then, the debate got started. "Open for Debate" was facilitated by Patrick Mather, dean of the Schreyer Honors College. He was joined by two political experts, Jaime Harrison and Miranda Divine. Harrison was the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Divine is a political commentator and podcast host. The topics for discussion were on voter identification and the Supreme Court.
Harrison and Divine had a conversation about each topic first, and then participants had open dialogue at their tables for another 10 minutes, where they practiced the debate skills shown by the experts.
According to Jimirro, "Open for Debate" is a positive demonstration of how people who disagree can have a respectful dialogue, and try to understand where differing opinions come from.
“I am bursting with Penn State Pride,” Jimirro said.