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Speak Your Peace event at Northland seeks to highlight civility in public discourse

September 26, 2012

The state of public discourse may leave much to be desired in some local, state and federal governments. The desire for civil discourse is the topic of a presentation to be held at Northland College next week. The discussion, called "Speak Your Peace: The Civility Project," will be held Wednesday, Oct. 3, from 6 to 7:45 p.m. in the Sentry Room of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. The event, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series, is free and open to the public.

The presentation will feature speakers Rob Karwath, former executive editor of the Duluth News Tribune, and Reverend Marina Liechecki of St. John's Church on Madeline Island. "Speak Your Peace: The Civility Project" is a program of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation (DSACF) that promotes the nine tools of civility from P.M. Forni's book "Choosing Civility." Karwath acts as a liaison for the community foundation on the project.

"We had so much interest in this because people realized the need for it," Karwath said. "It was created largely because we were having trouble in Duluth and Superior - particularly Duluth - that made governing and the situation kind of difficult to understand and deal with."

Karwath said Duluth's budget crisis a few years back contributed to a breakdown in discourse at city council meetings. The typically well-mannered group succumbed to stress and finger-pointing as they sought to tackle the city's difficult financial situation, according to Karwath.

"We finally decided it was time to quit yelling and screaming at each other and move forward," he said.

As a result, the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation approached 16 units of government in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin with the idea of improving behavior and communication through the nine tools of civility. The list of nine tools includes traits such as taking responsibility, listening and showing respect.

Karwath said the discussion at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute will seek to uncover problems Chequamegon Bay area communities are facing.

"You know every community has problems that they're dealing with and problems that we've been talking about for many, many years and we're stuck," Karwath said. "We're stuck in Washington. We're stuck in our state capitals. What I hope is that "Speak Your Peace" will give people hope and tools to help them get down the road to civility."

The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund and Chequamegon Bay Area Community Fund, affiliates of the DSACF, are sponsoring the event along with the Ashland Bayfield Counties/League of Women Voters and Northland College. Dorothy Lagerroos, president of the ABC League of Women Voters, said the presidential election is a good time to highlight behavior in public discourse.

"I think there's a general fear because the world is changing quite drastically and people don't appreciate having to adopt a different world view," Lagerroos said. "This event has been a long time coming. Some people don't know how to appreciate the fact that there are other views and people are entitled to hold them. We can set a better example of how to behave in public discourse."

Participants are invited to remain for a public viewing of the presidential debate at 8 p.m. following the presentation. For more information on the event, visit www.northland.edu/community.