Last week, UNC’s Institute of Politics announced its two visiting fellows for the 2019 spring semester: former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Congressman Mike McIntyre.
As fellows, both McCrory and McIntyre will lead weekly 75-minute seminars surveying contemporary politics, civic duty and leadership. These seminars are open to all UNC students and no enrollment is necessary. Students will not earn academic credit for attending.
These seminars offer a unique opportunity for UNC’s student body to engage in civil political discourse. Our current political climate frequently seems consumed by untethered emotion, moral defensiveness and fear of partisan judgment. Now, UNC has the chance to rectify the toxic culture that has permeated American society through open and fruitful conversation.
We should never forget the value of hearing and fairly evaluating the arguments of those with whom we disagree, for the First Amendment serves as the fountain from which every other right flows. To drown out dissenting opinions is to impair the health of a functioning democracy. By welcoming diverse opinions and engaging civilly with them, we help reset the abandoned standards for political discourse, as well as checking the merit of our own beliefs by having them challenged.
This is not to say we support the erasure of history. Both McCrory and McIntyre should prepare to be held accountable for their actions in office. We encourage UNC students to attend these seminars with an open mind and with learning as their priority, not immediate condemnation.
Syllabi for each course are available online at the IoP’s website. McCrory’s lecture titles — “Prepare To Be Eviscerated,” “The Allure of Power” and “You Will Be Forgotten, But You Will Make A Difference” — alone promise to incite lively conversation and evoke critical political examination. This indeed is what we believe to be the true purpose of the IoP’s fellow seminar program: to engage in productive discourse.
These seminars are opportunities for all involved to both listen and speak. To exercise their democratic right to engage with their civic duty. So, to all those hesitant to attend an event with McCrory or McIntyre, we encourage you to view these seminars not as lectures, but as conversations. These politicians are on campus not just so we can learn from them; they also have much to learn from us.
Even if you disagree with them — in fact, especially if you disagree with them — we should all jump at the opportunity to show McCrory and McIntyre how UNC students handle political discourse. And that ought to be with honesty, composure and fairness. Civil dialogue is the bridge that connects the fragmented political division of modern day America, and now McCrory, McIntyre and we as Tar Heels face a choice: Are we willing to cross it?
