The following post is from the Chairman of the North American Executive Board. 

In April, the University of Oklahoma Students For Liberty, College Republicans, and College Democrats hosted a public discussion to highlight their perspectives on controversial political issues. As part of SFL’s Speak Freely activism push, the three groups got together to exercise their right to free speech and publicly spread their political ideals.

Over the course of the nearly three hour event, the representatives from each club gave their positions on free markets, immigration, and criminal justice, with each organization being allotted a five minute opening statement, followed by fifteen minutes of unstructured discussion between the participants. After finishing all three topics, a Q&A period with the audience began. The discussion was lively and engaging without hostility. Despite the popular image of political discourse on college campuses today, all three groups could freely express their opinions, hear responses, and make rejoinders without yelling, shaming, or otherwise attempting to silence dissent.

Despite considerable disagreement and even strong emotional attachment to their positions on the topics under discussion, the three groups came together to engage with political ideas and attempt to persuade each other and the attendees to agree with their respective perspectives. All the participants left the event hoping to repeat the event in future semesters, looking forward to more public dialogue with rival perspectives. As we have seen at OU, political change is possible. Political dialogue is possible. Free speech allows us to use persuasion, rather than violence, to change others’ minds and opinions. Even on college campuses the social conversation continues, ever as it must.