I'm involved in the College Republicans on campus. We've had some joint-events with the College Democrats in the past, but they've been so disrespectful in the past as to leave a bad taste. During supposedly friendly debates we'd let them speak their part, but we could never speak our part because one of them would shout over us at almost any point of contention. So, we still want to hold events for discussion, but rather than engaging in discussion with the College Democrats, we want to engage in discussion with the general audience (College Democrats and Republicans, taken together, are about 1-2% of the student population - though many non-members may have political ties). But the simple fact is that discussing a subject with a pre-chosen 'other side' is easier. Having an open forum, we don't know if anyone will even stop to listen, let alone participate. The rough plan that we're tossing around now is to have a topical discussion in an open location (the school has a Greek-style open theater in the middle of campus, which everyone walks by during the day). We'd put up a sign noting the event and topic of discussion, and advertise it beforehand. We were thinking of starting off with evidence supporting both sides of an argument (for example, if we were discussing gun politics), and we'd post up snippets of those evidences on the sign for the event, and maybe also on advertisement posters. After starting off with such supporting evidences, the person leading the discussion could enter their own opinion and then open it up for discussion, or just go straight to discussion. The hope is to engage students who normally wouldn't be politically involved on campus and, if nothing else, to at least get people passing by to start thinking about the issue. Does anyone have any ideas for how to make such an event better? We want to host a discussion, but don't want a 'debate opponent.' Is there a better way to initiate discussions and engage the 'audience'?
Can you set up a buffet table and open the debate on the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana and alternative medicine?
