North Dakota State’s new Democracy Wall opened Friday.
The Democracy Wall is a dry erase wall inside the Student Activities Office where weekly questions on social issues of our local, national and global communities are posed. All questions are intended to be unbiased in nature and thought provoking, allowing contributors to form an opinion on the subject.
All students and staff of North Dakota State are encouraged to write their stance on the wall, or take the time to view what others have said on the issue. The NDSU Democracy Wall simply asks that the dialogue remain free of hateful or obscene language.
This week’s question asked individuals to share their ideas on pro-athletes’ choice to forgo standing for the National Anthem during games.
The wall opened with an opening ceremony Friday.
The event featured speakers President Dean Bresciani, Nicholas Bauroth, an Associate Professor of Political Science, and Student Body President Spencer Moir. The event concluded with a ceremonial ribbon cutting in front of the wall.
During his remarks, Moir expressed his disappointment at the lack of participation in student body elections and his hope that the wall would encourage student involvement at NDSU.
“This wall starts a shift for students to engage on campus and in their community,” Moir said.
Bresciani used the term “anti-social media wall” when describing the wall to express his belief in the importance of real conversation, away from a computer screen.
NDSU’s website said the mission of the wall is “to foster the development of well-informed and engaged citizens where critical thinking and understanding are promoted through civil discourse on political, cultural and societal issues impacting our community.”
“The Democracy Wall gets students to think about issues that are impacting our community and allows them to articulate a stance on the issue. This (awareness) is what leads to change,” Hailey Goplen, the Memorial Union’s assistant director for civic engagement and Democracy Wall overseer, said.
Goplen cited two primary reasons for the wall’s creation. She said the first reason is that college is a time for many to decide what they believe in and stand for, the wall assists students as citizens in being aware of events going on around the world. She said the second reason is that the wall provides an avenue for the discovery of agreements between stances, a vital aspect of a representative democracy.
“Finding commonality helps individuals respect and understand opinions. Proving yourself right makes it difficult to work together,” Goplen said. “We need to find a place for common ground to move forward and create solutions.”