Civility Campaign examines midterm elections and polarization

Inique Wilson, News Reporter

The Civility Campaign hosted another installment of their Civility Café Series with a discussion about the upcoming midterm elections.

 

The discussion took place in the Cross-Cultural Center on Oct. 18 and featured Christopher Nayve, the associate vice president for community engagement and anchor initiatives at the University of San Diego. Nayve has been committed in developing community involvement since 1994.

 

He spoke about the importance of navigating through civil discourse and polarities in the current state of politics especially during election time.

 

Nayve’s main goal is to address social issues and deepen the understanding of how people of the community can partake in civil discourse.  

 

Polarities and problems are two different outlines that demonstrate how an issue can be seen. Nayve mentioned how polarities are unable to be solved but when something is seen as a problem then it can be solved with the correct civic skills.

 

The concepts of diversity and equity allows polarities and problems to be more visible.

 

Polarity work comes with obstacles that are judged as either “good” or “bad” but Nayve said to view both the “good” and “bad” as experience needed to solve these problems and polarities.

 

Nayve said he believes viewing today’s problems and polarities cannot be solved without identifying and figuring out the individual first.

 

Nayve ended by presenting a Touch the Top of the World, a film about a blind man who reached the peak of Mount Everest. Nayve used the movie to demonstrate that with the right team, any problem can be solved with each team member’s strengths implemented to the cause.