Denver Culture Wars, an event put on by the DU Chapters of Turning Point USA, The Federalist Society and Prager University, featured a panel discussion followed by a lengthy question and answer session engaging the audience. The panel featured Will Witt, a correspondent for Prager U, Krista Kafer, a Denver Post Columnist and Adjunct Professor who taught at DU last quarter and Hannah Scherlacher, the Program Manager and Opinion Writer for Campus Reform. It was moderated by Justin Longo, cofounder of the libertarian organization Liberty on the Rocks.
The event, held Thursday, April 5, was in Davis Auditorium inside Sturm Hall and drew over 250 people—according to organizers. The audience was a mix of DU students, people from the surrounding neighborhood as well as other Turning Point USA Chapters from other universities in Colorado. The discussion covered many different topics but mainly centered around political correctness and identity politics.
Witt told the Clarion the event went well, saying, “It was a great discussion and the Q&A was very civil and people asked some very good questions that we can come to some agreement on.”
In the panel discussion, Scherlacher argued that the aforementioned topics are increasingly hampering discussions on college campuses. Kafer said that most students are willing to participate in difficult discussions, but it is the fringes of the right and left that pose the main issue. Witt was for the most part focused on how identity politics and political correctness only benefit people who conform to the “liberal orthodoxy.” The “liberal orthodoxy” was something emphasized by both Witt and Kafer and pushed back against by both members of the DU College Democrats during the Q&A session.
The Q&A session had a wide range of audience members, with some commending the speakers and the event while others were more critical of the event. Members of the DU College Democrats, including their co-presidents, attended the event and asked the panel questions.
Event organizer Ari Estevez, a graduate student from Brooklyn who is completing his MS in information and communications technology, organized last year’s Political Incorrectness event and called this event a success. Political Incorrectness was a free speech event hosted by the DU chapter of the libertarian organization Young Americans for Freedom.
When asked to comment on the event, Estevez provided an e-mailed statement that said Denver Culture Wars “drew a bigger audience and just as many student attendees as Political Incorrectness.”
To Estevez, the lack of protests and a more engaged crowd was an “indication of growing support for conservative values on campus.” Campus safety officers were on hand during the event, but no issues arose.
Kafer commended DU, saying that the university, “is doing a good job of having events here.” She continued, “There is a robust intellectual atmosphere here for discussion.” She was glad the College Democrats participated, calling it “exactly what we need.”
There was a sense of optimism among event organizers that future dialogue could occur between liberals and conservatives on campus. Ally Hibben, president of DU’s chapter of Turning Point USA and a junior majoring in political science from Littleton, Colorado, said both co-presidents of DU College Democrats came up to her after the event. “We talked after about getting together and having a joint meeting and discussing topics amongst the two viewpoints,” she said.
