Applicable Political Discourse Event Seeks to Bridge Gaps Among Students
Written By Meghan Miglorie, Staff-Writer
On September the 18th, Winthrop Student’s Democratic and Republican organizations held an Applicable Political Discourse Event, inviting students and staff on campus to discuss political topics of freedom of speech, political violence, and the tragic consequences of closed-mindness.
Jennifer Disney is the Professor and Chair of the Political Science, Philosophy, Religion and Legal Studies Departments. She is also the Director of the Women and Gender studies program and United Nations program here at Winthrop.
Alongside Disney were presidents and vice presidents of the Democratic and Republican Organizations on campus; Maya Garcia, President of the College Republicans and their Vice President, Landon Polasky. They were accompanied by the President of College Democrats Ollie Whitfield and their Vice President Jayden Caskens.
The event began with a disclosure for what the organization’s purposes are, “[…] the first step of amicable discourse across differences is humanization. We really wanted to stress that we’re all human beings. We all have emotions. We all feel and express emotions, and we need to be respectful of other people’s feelings, emotions, and humanity, whether or not we see that issue from their perspective”.
This comment was in relation to the recent political assasination of activist Charlie Kirk, and how political violence is slowly eroding its way into freedom of speech in America. “[…] Political violence has no place in American politics”, Disney commented.
The event’s central presentation to Winthrop students and staff is how regardless of political views, there never should be a reason to punish another for their opinions, and instead, practice the concept of agreeing to disagree. “[…] No one in the United States of America should lose their life for their speech”. Disney Argued.
Whitfield commented that, “Freedom is what America stands on, and so to not have that would be a very big mistake on the government’s part, not just constitutionally, but fundamentally”.
Garcia touched on the conversation of religious belief systems in America, and how, “[…] America is home to a wide variety of belief systems and religions in order to serve all of its citizens fairly and to protect their freedom of religion. […] it would undermine the principle of religious liberty”.
Disney provided several examples of historical court cases that involved the disruption of Americans First Amendment Right, including; Brandon Burke versus Ohio in 1969, and Chaplinsky versus New Hampshire in 1942.
The importance of highlighting these cases was to help the audience understand, “[…] we all have a sense of freedom of speech in America, yet we want to be reminded that there are limits to free speech, and that those limits are determined through interpretation, and through the court systems” Disney stated.
Disney also presented the, “latest examples of violence tearing through American politics”. These included; the attempted assasination of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on April 13th, 2025, the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband on June 14th, 2025, and the attempted assasination of President Donald Trump on July 13th, 2025, and most recently, the assasination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10th, 2025.
What is demonstrated and highlighted throughout the Political Discourse Event is how politics have created this gaping division amongst Americans. We are expected in recent times to be on one side of the political spectrum and that side only. Both college political parties, along with Disney, argue that instead of being narrow-minded towards one or another party, Winthrop students, and even the American people should agree to disagree, and disagree without being disagreeable.