N. Ky. Forum, an old-fashioned town hall, returns civility, respect to public debate

By Feoshia H. Davis
KyForward correspondent
 

In the 24-hour news cycle, where pundits, shock-jocks and talking heads shriek their opinions on air and online, Northern Kentucky is preserving the old-fashioned town hall.
 

The Northern Kentucky Forum is an ongoing initiative of the Northern Kentucky University’s Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement. It gives the public a place to discuss important — sometimes controversial — regional issues in an innovative and thoughtful way.
 

The forum kicked off in 2008, generating national attention online, with a mock trail. Scott v. Chandler County School Board was a fictitious case of a biology teacher who sued her school board for wrongful termination after encouraging students to “explore creation theories.”
 

The audience served as a jury and, using small wireless “clickers,” decided the case and responded to arguments in real time, publicly and anonymously. The mock trial actors where local school officials and legal officers, and in the end, the jury said she could keep her job with conditions, which ranged from teaching as she had been to being barred from straying from evolution.
 

'Is 33rd Good Enough?' forum (Photo from N. Ky. Forum)

Since then, the forum has explored a host of other issues, some a bit less hot but no less important to the area.
 

“Our aim is to increase the discussion of public policy issues emerging in the region. We want people to participate in the creation of that public policy,” says Patricia Goodman, Northern Kentucky Forum chair.
 

The forum is a partnership of Northern Kentucky University’s Scripps Center, Vision 2015, the region’s strategic planning organization, and Legacy, a young professionals leadership development group. The nonpartisan, free forums are held at different venues across Northern Kentucky, including universities and cultural centers.
 

Each forum is unique and varies in structure. One could start from a panel discussion, another could focus on a documentary or play, still others allow the audience to ask questions of local government officials. Each encourages the audience to get in on the conversation.
 

Forum cuts through incivility in debate
 

The forums’ atmosphere is designed to be civil, thoughtful and respectful, says Goodman, also a vice president at Gateway Community and Technical College.
 

'Place Matters' forum (Photo from N. Ky. Forum)

“We’re creating a face-to-face place to have some difficult conversations like the mock trail. We create a place and setting where people are able to feel safe, and both sides have an equal chance to voice their opinions,” she says.
 

The forum’s goal is to host six to 10 events a year, and a group of volunteers decide topics based on several factors, including the news of the day. A range of between 50 and 125 people attend the events.
 

The forum’s key principals are to:
 

♦ Be a safe place for difficult conversations on public issues.
♦ Attract a diverse audience and aim always to include, not exclude.
♦ Advocate for dialogue and for an informed public, but not for any one position.
♦ Provide a format conducive to audience input.
♦ Allow all sides of an issue to be represented in the discussion.

Forum objectives are to:
 

♦ Increase public dialogue as well as awareness of the need for public dialogue.
♦ Amplify a regional dialogue across Northern Kentucky’s city and county boundaries.
♦ Assure that the dialogue is civil and informative.
♦ Find ways to convey the forum’s findings to the public.
♦ Increase citizen engagement.
 

Relevance, public engagement is key
 

'Is 33rd Good Enough?' forum (Photo from N. Ky. Forum)

“We are high on audience input and engagement. They’re allowed to ask questions, fill out comment cards, or use a clicker to respond to questions,” Goodman says.
 

Among the more popular forums, which has become an annual event, was on the nuts and bolts of the Kentucky Legislature.
 

“We had a panel of legislators and some members of the LRC (Legislative Research Commission), talk about what goes on in Frankfort, how to navigate the Kentucky Legislative website and more. It’s been very, very popular,” Goodman says.
 

Another highly attended forum was on education, Is 33rd Good Enough? referencing Kentucky’s national education ranking. During that session, education leaders spoke on education reform and took questions from a panel of high school students.
 

The next event is Sept. 18 and will tackle a hefty issue, with a discussion The Weight of the Nation, an HBO documentary examining America’s obesity epidemic and how we might act to curb it. The forum will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington. The public also is invited to take a poll on the topic at nkyforum.org.

You can find out more about the forum online, and stay connected through Facebook. There you can find out about upcoming events.
 

Feoshia Henderson Davis is a freelance writer based in the Northern Kentucky area.  She is a former reporter for The Kentucky Post and The Cincinnati Post. She can be reached at feoshia@gmail.com.