Democracy Plaza group promotes civil discussion

Rain kept many people away from Democracy Plaza's first event Monday afternoon, but the group's president still has high hopes for the organization's future.\nDemocracy Plaza, an organization in its first semester on the Bloomington campus, aims to increase civil involvement and discussion of social issues among college students.\n"We envision promoting a free and fair environment for students to express political, social, economic ideas or whatever else is on their mind," said graduate student Rodney Cobb, the president of the organization.\nThe first planned event, the Constitution Day panel with professor of law Kevin D. Brown and Chairman of the political science department and professor Jeff Isaac, failed to draw more than a handful of students and faculty.\nIsaac discussed the meaning of Constitution Day while Brown criticized the document's effects on minorities.\nBrown said when legislators genuinely attempt to help minorities, those laws are too often struck down by other courts as unconstitutional.\n"It's prohibitive to the political process," he said.\nThe lecture was moved off the south lawn of the Herman B Wells Library and inside the building because of rain, which also ensured a smaller crowd, but Cobb said he still intends to move forward with bigger plans for Democracy Plaza.\nBy the end of the semester he said he hopes to have dry erase boards posted in several residence halls, the Indiana Memorial Union, the Wells library and other locations that will pose a question about current issues for students to either respond to verbally or in writing. \nCobb said he and other students started a similar program in 2004 at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis that has been successful. What began with four chalkboards there quickly grew to 16 and eventually a permanent space on the IUPUI campus.\nCobb admits the possibility for people to vandalize or write inappropriate things on the board is high, but says if threats are discovered on the boards, they'll be reported to the IU Police Department to investigate.\nHe also said that if someone were to use profanity to attack an issue, representatives from Democracy Plaza would use it as an opportunity to educate them and ask them why they feel that way.\nCurrently Cobb is in negotiations with the University as to how exactly the program will work.\n"The University in a kind of roundabout way has steered discussion to Dunn Meadow so that they can keep it in a contained area," he said. "I think they're kind of freaking out, like 'Can we control this?"