New Group Aims For Civil Debate

A new local group hopes to bring civilized political discourse to the forefront with new public debates. “That’s Debatable” will debut in April, when two panels of two persons each will square off at Milliken Auditorium to debate the idea that “two years of civic or military service should be required of every U.S. citizen on attaining voting age, without exemption.”

“It’s a topic that could make for interesting bedfellows. Those who might disagree on other topics could be on the same side of this one,” says Jeff Anderson, a board member of the Neahtawanta Research and Education Center. He is one of the members of the group organizing the program, being dubbed “That’s Debatable.”

Based loosely on the National Public Radio program “Intelligence Squared,” two teams will argue the pros and cons of a values proposition with broad local and national social implications. The program, tentatively set for April 26, is being put together as an outgrowth of discussions by members of the Neahtawanta Center with support from NMC’s International Affairs Forum and WNMC.

Dave Barrons, who is serving as the spokesperson for the group, says bringing in the International Affairs Forum “gave us access to a lot of brain power.” The college radio station will broadcast the event, though as it will be going through a relocation it may not be able to do so live.

It’s taken nearly a year to get to this point. “We started meeting last March to put this together,” Anderson says.

There will be an opening statement from each team, then each member will respond to four questions posed by the moderator, before a closing statement from each team. Jacob Wheeler, communications manager at the Ground Work Center for Resilient Communities, will serve as moderator.

“We struggled with ways to get disparate and contentious voices without a shouting match,” says Barrons. “A big part is a back and forth in a listenable and curated sort of way without rancor.”

At the same time, the group is hopeful the discussion will be lively and stimulating. “We do want it to be entertaining,” says Anderson.

Barrons says another goal is to engage people across the age spectrum, making sure they reach younger people as well as both men and women. That’s reflected in the choice of the debating teams. Though not yet finalized, Barrons says the expectation is that one side will be drawn from the debate team at Traverse City West High School. The other will consist of two middle-aged women, one a philosophy instructor at NMC, the other with a Libertarian bent.

Not only will that provide very different perspectives, it’s hoped that it will draw in an audience of varying ages and ideologies. Organizers hope the audience will both appreciate and add to the proceedings.

“We thought it would be best done in the slow season, between November and April,” says Anderson. “We hope to do three or four next year.”

Photo: Dave Barrons, Jeff Anderson, Terri Reisig and Stephanie Mills discuss the upcoming forum “That’s Debatable.”