UNO Brings Together Area Students For Open Dialogue on Hate Speech

While many students across the Omaha and Council Bluffs areas had Monday, Feb. 18, off of school due to the President's Day holiday, a group of approximately 50 students and their teachers joined UNO students and faculty at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center in a deliberation exercise on the topic of banning of hate speech in the United States.

Participating students from Omaha Burke High School, Omaha North High School, Kanesville Alternative School, Mary Our Queen Middle School and Millard North High School had previously spent time in their classrooms learning and practicing skills for discussing controversial topics; however, Monday marked the first time the students had an opportunity to come together and use these skills with peers from other schools.

Teachers from other participating schools, Omaha Bryan Middle School, Omaha Central High School and Omaha Buffett Middle School, were also in attendance to help facilitate discussions.

Connie Schaffer, associate professor of teacher education, helped organize the event, which is called "New Perspectives in Deliberation."

"Our deliberation followed a process developed by Street Law, an international nonprofit organization that helps develop classroom and community programs to educate young people about law and government," she explained. "All the teachers and I were trained on this method this past summer, and the teachers have been leading deliberations in their classrooms this year. In addition to the Omaha and Council Bluffs schools, students from the Denver and Washington D.C. area are also participating in these deliberations."

Students and community members completed a pre-assessment prior to the deliberation. Following Monday's event, each teacher will have their students fill out a follow up assessment to highlight lessons learned and knowledge gained about the deliberative process and the role the law and government play in responding to issues of hate speech.