Virtual Voices and Donuts and Democracy: Free Expression on Campus, Social Media Reform, and Electoral Reform; Final Report

Over the course of two days, November 5th and November 6th, university students from across the country met for four hours to participate in Virtual Voices: Deliberation Across the Nation, a national Deliberative Polling® event where they discussed pressing issues facing American society at large and college campuses in particular. Students in the Deliberative Democracy Practicum selected a variety of topics and proposals they believed could help address either affective (dislike and distrust of those from opposing political groups) or political (differences in ideology and policy positions) polarization. The event was hosted on the Stanford Online Deliberation Platform, a software program designed to facilitate productive deliberation. The platform contains an automated moderator which encourages participants to weigh the pros and cons of all proposals, monitors the participants’ language to maintain a civil atmosphere, and prompts all participants to contribute equally. Each day, participants engaged in an hour-long deliberation period in groups of between five and twelve students and a spirited hour-long plenary session with experts on the proposals being discussed.