At my school, they tried to stop a debate on the new library books by saying it was 'too heated'

The student government wanted to just cancel the whole event, but a few of us pushed to move it to a bigger room with a faculty moderator. The first plan would have shut down the talk completely, but the second one let it happen with some basic rules. We had over 200 people show up, and it was loud but fine. Has anyone else had to fight to keep a campus discussion going by changing how it's done?

3 comments

3 Comments

keithw5925d ago

Good move getting that bigger room. Shutting down the talk is the easy way out, but it just makes people angrier. You found a better path by adding a moderator and some space. More schools should try that instead of just hitting the off switch.

charles_black2425d ago

You know, @keithw59, that reminds me of a town hall meeting here that got way too loud... they just moved it to the community center and it went way smoother.

bettyk533d ago

Actually, the bigger room helped, but the real key was that faculty moderator... they kept things on track when voices got loud. Without someone to guide it, even a big space can turn into a shouting match. Setting those basic rules let everyone have their say without it falling apart.