WATCH: Brent Hamachek Explains Success of Innovative New Campus Discourse Format

Human Events Executive Editor Brent Hamachek appeared on Newsmax’s “National Report” Thursday to discuss the Human Events sponsored Common Ground Campus initiative.

  • by:
  • 03/02/2023

Human Events Executive Editor Brent Hamachek appeared on Newsmax’s “National Report” Thursday to discuss the Human Events sponsored Common Ground Campus initiative. 

The initiative flips the typical campus debate format on its head, and instead discourages the argumentative approach often taken on college campuses, with an end goal of identifying points of agreement between both sides.

“It’s designed to move beyond the traditional debate format that we commonly find on college campuses where two people get up on stage and argue for an hour,” Hamachek said. “People in the audience then continue to argue for a while during questions and answers, and then they take the argument out to the student commons and get into a fight”

 

“So what we’re trying to do is instead of debating issues, we’re trying to actually get together and find a way to solve problems,” he added.

Hamachek pointed to the success of the first event of the effort, held in April at the University of Georgia, during which students of opposing political ideologies discussed issues surrounding race on campus. 

“On all three of those issues, we were able to find common ground.”

“Nobody was allowed to say ‘you’re wrong’ during the course of the discussion,” said Hamachek, adding that the rule forced the students “to engage in a way that was very personal, instead of abstract and impersonal like on social media. And we were able to solve problems.”

Students interested in nominating their own schools for a Common Ground Campus event can do so at commongroundcampus.com, which also houses a video of the full UGA event. Common Ground Campus is already planning more of these groundbreaking events at college campuses across the country this fall.

Image: by is licensed under
ADVERTISEMENT

Opinion

View All

German crypto CEO under house arrest in NYC skips $5 million bond and is now a fugitive

$4 million of Jicha's bond was personally guaranteed by his partner, children, and 3 other people liv...

STEPHEN DAVIS: Minneapolis food bank turns white people away, only serves black and indigenous people

The pantry had a sign on the door which read, “The resources found in here are intended for Black & I...

JACK POSOBIEC: JD Vance, Donald Trump's lives 'increasingly at threat' as GOP ticket surges in polls

"He's not going to be golfing between now and the election, because of the security threat that is ve...

Boris Johnson shuts down CNN's Jake Tapper over Trump-Russia narrative

"I had dealings with President Trump over Russia, like when the Russians poisoned people in the UK, i...