Jack Barnett - Jiang Biye - Soham Kudtarkar - RJ Li - Stefan Steiner P1: Need Finding Jack Barnett - Jiang Biye - Soham Kudtarkar - RJ Li - Stefan Steiner

Summary of Events Free Speech on Campus: A Discussion with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in Honor of Constitution Day Dean of Berkeley Law, Erwin Chemerinsky talked about whether or not we should censor hateful speech, from a law perspective. After the talk, the interviewee told us that it is good to hear about the discussion from the law aspect. Since other talks usually offer a strong opinion, while this talk focus on analyzing the “free speech” itself. White Supremacy, Gender, and Speech in the wake of Charlottesville Panelists discussed white supremacy in contemporary society, focusing on topics such as Trump or the NFL protests. We interviewed Evelyn, a retired woman attending the panel for leisure.

Event photos

What did we learn from the interviews People usually are very opinionated on contentious issues Come to events expecting to hear reaffirmation of their stances For participants, topics are usually a similar rehashing of their opinions People might not go to an event if they disagree with the speaker’s views Hard to create a respectful, caring environment where people can freely share strong / different / provoking ideas Speakers can be more emotional than factual, which detracts from healthy discussion

POV 1: White Supremacy Panel We met Evelyn, a retired woman who attended the panel sponsored by the UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender. We were amazed to realize that Evelyn did not expect to learn anything new from the speakers. In fact, she used to be the director of the Center for Race and Gender so she shared the same views as the people putting on the event. It would be game changing to encourage people like Evelyn to attend events with speakers that they don’t agree with given that they would at least learn something new.

HMW 1, 2: White Supremacy Panel How might we entice individuals to view alternative news outlets by making reading the news more about learning something new, and less about reinforcing old viewpoints with new information. How might we highlight the similar facts/information contained within two politically opposite news stories and use those similarities to draw audiences from either side to a new perspective. How might we use the similarities between articles to draw audiences from either side to a new perspective. Hmw 2

POV 2: Free speech on Campus event We met a middle aged female director of the Moffitt / Doe library attending the free speech event. We were surprised to realize that a lot of speaker events are very opinionated instead of focusing on factual information. Therefore, it may be game-changing to construct an area where discussion is progressed by facts instead of opinions.

HMW 3, 4: Free speech on Campus How might we construct a safe space, run with respect and care, that allows expression of opposing or divisive ideas based on facts and sources? How might we reduce the number of arguments based on emotion, slander, and fake news, instead empathizing arguments steeped in logic and valid sources?