USD Magazine Spring 2017

TORERO  NEWS

Now is the time to ensure the next election cycle contains more constructive conversations, says Carl Luna, the director and co- creator of USD’s Institute for Civil Civic Engagement.

USD institute is on a mission to restore civility to political discourse [ r e s p e c t ] NOW, MORE THAN EVER

MARSHALL WILLIAMS

by Melissa Wagoner Olesen erhaps not since the days of Reconstruction follow- ing the Civil War has the American populous been so di- vided. One can hardly turn on the television news or read a news story without a vitriolic tirade of insults and accusa- tions. How can citizens cut through the noise and under- stand an issue free of bias? How can we hold the media accountable for their role in P

the political process? And per- haps most important, how do we heal as a country? Enter USD’s Institute for Civil Civic Engagement (ICCE). Housed in the College of Arts and Science’s Political Science department, the mission of the institute is deceptively simple: restore a sense of civility in political discourse. Director and cocreator Carl Luna, PhD, explains that now is

the time to ensure that the next election cycle contains less in- vective and more constructive and thoughtful conversation. “We’d like to get San Diego talking about civility now, so that by the elections of 2018 and 2020 we can raise the level of our civic debate to match the better angels of our nature rather than see it stay in the gutter of trolling social media,” Luna says.

The institute works to engage USD students and alumni at multiple levels. The signature event is the annual Restoring Respect conference, held every spring at USD’s Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. The ICCE is expanding the 2017 conference into a two-day regional event (April 18-19), which will include panels and presentations on student leadership and civic engagement by and for USD and

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