Dr. Timothy Shaffer spoke on the importance of civil discourse in today’s polarizing times
As the nation marked the anniversary of 9/11, civil discourse scholar Dr. Timothy Shaffer led an engaging conversation at Chaminade to underscore the importance of disagreeing agreeably in polarizing times.
“We are navigating tensions in the past that are still unrecognizable,” Shaffer told a packed lecture hall of students, faculty and staff members and others. “What happens when rhetoric becomes reality?”
Shaffer, inaugural Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse and director of the SNF Ithaca Initiative in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware, said institutions of higher education offer spaces for sharing ideas, finding common ground, understanding new perspectives and even passionately disagreeing—with mutual respect.
In his lecture, “We Need to Talk: Civil Discourse in Partisan and Polarizing Times,” he told attendees engaging in differences is critical—even essential in a democracy—and that it is absolutely appropriate to challenge one another, as long as it’s done in a fair way. “We have what I call, weak civility, which provides us a code of polite conduct or mode of behavioral management,” Shaffer said.
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Strong civility, he added, is a “robust engagement of differences that includes dialogue and deliberation.”
Shaffer’s message resonated with the audience, especially in this election year.
Biology major Jason Edric Ulep ’27 said not everyone is going to agree, but it’s critical to understand where different people stand. “Civil discourse promotes the use of voice instead of resorting to physical violence and verbal abuse,” said Ulep, after attending the lecture. “We need civil discourse, as it aims to seek a middle ground and hopefully come to a common understanding or a solution to the problem.”
In his civil discourse leadership role, Shaffer works on a number of projects, which include annual convenings of faculty and students across the United States at the SNF Ithaca National Student Dialogue and research about the role of civil discourse within public affairs education.
Victoria Perrira ’27, a Criminology and Criminal Justice major, said she walked away from Shaffer’s lecture with a new appreciation of civil discourse. “I value truthfulness and was particularly interested in learning how to effectively navigate conversations around polarizing topics,” she said.
Shaffer said polarization isn’t new, but how we respond to each other can be. “We have a lack of public discourse,” he said, adding, “You need to create a space for democracy where you have agency. You can build a culture grounded in civil discourse even in these partisan and polarizing times.”
University President Lynn Babington, Ph.D., said the talk was particularly timely as the nation gears up for the presidential election.
“I believe the place of a university, an institution of higher learning, is to really provide the format, the environment for discourse to take a place,” she said.
“That’s our role. … We need, and our students need, to know how to have those important conversations. to listen carefully to people’s ideas and be able to respond to them in a very civil way.”
This lecture was sponsored by Chaminade University’s Office of Mission and Rector, the Association of Marianist Universities and the Marianist Leadership Center.
