Civil Discourse: It’s Time to Talk

College of Letters and ScienceThe College-at-the-Core

UW-Stevens Point Initiative Attracts Huge Crowd to Discuss Presidential Politics

COLS Newsletter - Spring 2017

Newsletter editor: Scott Tappa | www.uwsp.edu/cols | twitter.com/UWSPcols | facebook.com/UWSPCOLS

The 2016 presidential election was many things, but civil was most certainly not one of them. Online and in person, on paper and over the airways, the rancorous tenor of the campaign extended into all corners of the country. It was the nastiest presidential campaign in U.S. history. Or was it? Has recency bias blinded us to the fact that presidential elections have been similarly bitter and divisive throughout history? And what are the odds things change in the future? These and other topics were discussed during a special fall semester edition of the Civil Discourse Initiative, sponsored by the UW-Stevens Point College of Letters and Science. Titled “Civil Discourse and Presidential Politics,” the panel discussion attracted a standing room-only crowd of more than 200 people in the Noel Fine Arts Center. “The capacity to engage in fruitful and respectful dialog with those who disagree with us is essential to any cooperative effort, from the workplace all the way up to the highest levels of government,” said COLS Dean Christopher Cirmo. “This is particularly important as we begin to address the political divide so clearly obvious in the most recent presidential election cycle.” “These are exactly the sorts of skills and abilities that higher education should cultivate. The Civil Discourse Initiative will help UW-Stevens Point to more intentionally nurture these traits.” The Initiative was launched in 2013 by a Bringing Theory to Practice grant. Endorsed by the UW-Stevens Point Faculty Senate, Academic Staff Council and Student Government Association, it was driven by the desire to hold the university responsible for modeling and defining civil discourse. The Initiative’s first event addressed public vaccination policy and the First Amendment. Civil Discourse and Presidential Politics was moderated by Dean Cirmo and Associate COLS Dean Dona Warren and featured panelists representing the university’s humanities and social sciences: Shanny Luft, Department of Philosophy; John Blakeman, Department

of Political Science; Rebecca Stephens, Department of English; and Rob Harper, Department of History and International Studies. Blakeman addressed the First Amendment and freedom of the press. Luft (top) reviewed how different religious groups voted and how unsurprising it was. Harper noted that choosing to be civil – or not – is a tactic candidates for public office use depending on circumstance, and referenced the 1800 Thomas Jefferson-John Adams campaign as historical evidence of uncivil election discourse. Stephens raised the importance of identity and decline of places where people with differing ideologies can gather and find commonalities and build empathy.

The Portage County Historical Society is a vibrant Central Wisconsin organization, operating four museums, publishing local history books and maintaining extensive archives at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Yet without any paid staff, the Society relies on volunteer assistance.

Enter Sarah Scripps. An assistant professor of history at UW-Stevens Point, Scripps began working informally with PCHS before being asked to join the organization’s board of directors. Scripps has cultivated opportunities for students in her upper-level history classes to gain real-world experience while strengthening the Society’s programs.

“It’s great my students are a part of this,” Scripps says. “They are fulfilling a community need, taking the skills they learn from the classroom and applying them to enriching the cultural life of this community.”

This semester, Scripps’ students have been working on a project commemorating the centennial of the United States’ entrance into World War I. Students created a documentary titled “Over There” scheduled to screen April 6 at the Sentry Theater. The documentary is part of a larger program including period musical selections by the Stevens Point Barbershoppers and UW-Stevens Point faculty reading the “Voices of Portage County.”

Concurrently another group of Scripps’ students has created a script for an exhibit being installed at Heritage Park in Plover, a PCHS historic site. “This has truly been a community-based project with a lot of different moving parts and people investing time and money into it,” Scripps says.

In Fall 2015, Scripps supervised a team of students who produced Artistry on Point: The Legacy of David L. Smith, honoring the emeritus UW-Stevens Point professor who founded the Smith Scarabocchio Art Museum in downtown Stevens Point. Students wrote a script for the event and installed an associated exhibit, which made its debut at an event at which the mayor recognized Smith for his donation.

Three of Scripps’ students completed a summer internship program working at the Rosholt Pioneer Museum, located on that town’s fairgrounds. Students helped create an inventory of the museum’s artifacts, created new exhibit displays and assisted with other upkeep. Recently Scripps accepted the position of curator at Beth Israel Synagogue, also a PCHS site, in part to create more field experience opportunities for students.

To contact Scripps about engaging students with history projects, call 715-346-2841 or email sscripps@uwsp.edu.

Planetarium Gets New Director

Scripps’ students contribute to public history

In 2003 author Michael Lewis published Moneyball, an investigation of how the low-revenue Oakland Athletics used a data-driven approach to identify market inefficiencies and thrive against their better-funded competitors. The book and its premise exposed a rift in baseball between traditionalist scouts and executives who relied on experienced-based “gut” and “feel” and contemporaries lacking traditional experience who instead used statistical analysis to make decisions. Over the ensuing decade-plus the latter group has grown in stature as leaders in what has come to be known as the sports analytics movement. A new UW-Stevens Point event aims to provide a Midwest platform for this intersection of athletics, math, science, business and more. The Great Lakes Analytics in Sports Conference, set for July 13, is a one-day conference showcasing the latest

concepts, research and innovations in the fast-growing field of sports analytics. Featuring speakers and presenters from professional and college sports organizations, the business sector and the academic community, the conference will cover innovations and evolutions in strategy, technology, training and more. “While sports analytics has gained prominence in recent years, it is still a

very young field,” says conference organizer Scott Tappa of the COLS dean’s office. “With students and faculty performing research in a variety of related fields, a strong athletic program, and alumni who have excelled at the highest levels, UW-Stevens Point is a natural location for a conference like this. Plus, this shines a light on our new data analytics program, which is off to a strong start.” For more information visit www.uwsp.edu/analyticsconference, email stappa@uwsp.edu or follow on Twitter at twitter.com/analyticsconf.

Sports analytics conference brings Moneyball to Point

From the desk of COLS Dean Chris Cirmo

Facts and civil discourse The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word fact as “That which is known to be real or true; what has actually happened or is the case; truth attested by direct observation or authentic testimony; reality.” Fundamentally, seeking facts is the search for knowledge, which is the mission of all education. Students seek higher education to learn about accepted truths forming the foundations of our disciplines. Examples would be the first law of thermodynamics in physics, the particulate theory of inheritance in biology, argumentation theory and logic analysis in philosophy, plate tectonic theory in geology, etc. We call these theories only after centuries of scrutiny and testing. When I have issues with my heart, the logical place to begin exploration of the problem would be to see a cardiologist. If it were my knee, an orthopedist; a tumor, an oncologist. In the 1970s, a depletion in the ozone content of the atmosphere over Antarctica was observed, and there was serious concern about increased incidence of skin cancer, threats to vegetation, crops, and the health of our oceans. We trusted the experts — climatologists, atmospheric chemists and oceanographers — to investigate and find a way to remediate the threat. It was determined that the cause of the ozone depletion was a substance called Freon (fluorinated hydrocarbons) in aerosol sprays and refrigerants. Freons were subsequently banned worldwide, the ozone layer recovered and has been unchanged since. In climate science, one would want to consult experts about climate change evidence. Why do some choose political pundits or talk show hosts first instead of experts? Long-term observation, testing, retesting, observing again, and again ... and again leads to tentative conclusions, and eventually builds theories, upon which entire disciplines stand. All modern society benefits from amazing breakthroughs in medicine, agriculture, technology, engineering, etc. — based on facts. Consistent and defensible observation and conclusion leads one to understand that a phenomenon is real — a fact. Underlying causes remain disputable at times, but the observation, after enough time, becomes accepted fact. In this time of frustration about what

constitutes “fact,” it is critical that public higher education in particular (since it serves 82 percent of all college students in the U.S.) remains a defender of deep and critical thought, observation, testing and conclusion. Our students face many ethical, moral and personal challenges each day, and if we do not give them a forum for calm discussion of real numbers, real facts, documented tests — indeed, theories — it all becomes “relative.” It is not all relative and as A.J. Levinovitz states in a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “The notion of truth, as disrespect, powers the current assault on facts.” At UW-Stevens Point, our Civil Discourse Initiative brings together panelists, experts and many sides of an issue, to discuss in a civil and controlled forum. It is not all relative, or a set of beliefs, as many incoming students often tell our faculty. Centuries of knowledge are the foundation of higher education and thought. Moreover, just because something is supported by many people does not make it a fact. We take pride in how we handle these conversations at UW-Stevens Point and promise to nurture, in civil forums, in our classrooms, and in how our faculty treat and teach our students, to insure that they know the difference between facts and relativism.

Best of Luck Abby!The conclusion of the 2016-2017 academic year marks the graduation of Abby Heistad, a College of Letters and Science communications assistant for more than two years. In addition to photographing events and editing videos, Abby has played a crucial role in the college’s developing social media presence, in particular Snapchat. A native of White Lake, Wis., Abby will graduate with a degree in interpersonal-organizational communication. An aspiring marketer, Abby is heavily involved in archery as secretary of the University Archery Club, representative of more than 10 archery businesses, and a social media star with thousands of followers. Best of luck Abby!

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Upcoming COLS Events ● April 11, 6:30 p.m. — Using Lakes As

Sentinels for Environmental Change (Community Lecture Series)

● May 5, 2 p.m. — College of Letters and Science Undergraduate Research Symposium

● May 9, 6:30 p.m. — Rebuilding U.S.-Cuba Relations (Community Lecture Series)

● July 13, 8:30 a.m. — Great Lakes Analytics in Sports Conference

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Political Science graduate Brett Ludwig has been appointed U.S. bankruptcy judge serving much of Wisconsin. He was appointed to a 14-year term with the federal court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin headquarters in Milwaukee.

The Department of Philosophy is planning a new summer event, Video Games & Philosophy Camp, which provides an opportunity for junior high and high school students to play and think critically about questions related to popular video games. The camp will be led by professor Joshua Horn.

French and Spanish major Carlui Pimentel-Aguilar created a podcast for Spanish learners, available at http://elcafecitoespanol.podbean.com.

Geography major Ellie Corbin (above) has been working to create the Stevens Point Bicycling Routes Map, which represents city bicycle routes based on comfort level and convenience.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy has entered into an agreement with UW-Milwaukee to offer a dual-degree option in which students

News Briefs Your Gift Makesa Difference!To create a legacy at UW-Stevens Point, please contact Tony Romano at 715-346-3406 or tony.romano@uwsp.edu, or visit www.uwsp.edu/cols/Pages/HowToSupport.Thank you for your consideration!

can earn a bachelor of science degree with a physics major at UW-Stevens Point and a bachelor of science degree with an engineering major from UWM in a total of five years.

Biology professor Sol Sepsenwol will retire at the end of the academic year. Sepsenwol began teaching in 1970 and has spent the last 39 years working at UW-Stevens Point.