Tucson, AZ, United States (AHN) – The University of Arizona has established an institute to promote civility in public debate. The center, which is chaired by two former U.S. presidents, follows last month’s shooting in Tucson that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and left six dead.
The National Institute for Civil Discourse is a non-partisan center at the university’s School of Government and Public Policy.
Its mission is to promote civic engagement consistent with First Amendment principles by developing programs and by gathering policy-makers to discuss issues that attract controversy and acrimony.
The center is chared by former President George H. W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton.
“Our country needs a setting for political debate that is both frank and civil,” Bush said in a statement released bythe university.
“America faces big challenges in revitalizing the American Dream at home and preserving our leadership for security, peace, freedom and prosperity in the world. Meeting them requires an honest dialogue celebrating both a clarification of our differences and a genuine stand for principled comparisons,” Clinton added.
The institute’s board is made up of a mix of liberal and conservative leaders, including Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff of the Reagan White House, and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
FOX host Greta Van Susteren and Harvard Institute of Politics director Trey Grayson are also members of the board.
Giffords was among 13 people wounded when a gunman opened fire outside a Safeway in Tucson on Jan. 8. One of her aides died in the tragedy along with a judge, John Roll, whom Bush appointed to the federal bench, and a nine-year old girl who had been elected to her school’s student council.
The shooting took place amid a highly charged national debate about issues such as immigration and healthcare. It ignited criticisms and accusations of partisanship and the use of inciteful political rhetoric, an argument President Barack Obama addressed in his speech at the university’s memorial for the shooting victims.
“The truth is none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack,” Obama had said. “None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.”
“If, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse,” he added, “let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud.”
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