Videos | Free Speech

ACTA Hosts Webinar On College Debates and Discourse Program to Help Alumni Free Speech Advocates

April 15, 2022 by ACTA

On April 1, 2022, ACTA hosted a webinar to introduce alumni free speech advocates to our College Debates and Discourse Program, which brings parliamentary-style debates to college campuses. The event is part of our ongoing work, in partnership with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance, to support alumni groups promoting free speech and viewpoint diversity at their alma maters. 

ACTA’s College Debates and Discourse Program was established in 2018 as a partnership with the grassroots organization Braver Angels and the student group BridgeUSA. To date, we have conducted nearly 100 campus and classroom debates, engaging thousands of students. The debates, guided by a parliamentary-type chair, teach students to respectfully voice and listen to opinions on a polarizing political or social topic.  

Emily Koons Jae, director of the Fund for Academic Renewal at ACTA, hosted the webinar, which featured Doug Sprei, ACTA’s director of campus partnerships and multimedia and director of the College Debates and Discourse Program, and Chandler Skinner, program associate for Braver Angels.  

We hope this resource inspires alumni advocates to host formal debates at their alma mater. If you are interested, please contact Doug Sprei at dsprei@GoACTA.org

WHO WE ARE

Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

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