MSU Billings
Samuel Boerboom
“Civility in America,” a panel discussion with two professors, a journalist and a minister, is the next entry in the Billings Public Library’s Civil Conversation Series.
The topic comes on Election Day for the U.S. House seat vacated by Ryan Zinke that will be filled either by Republican Greg Gianforte, Democrat Rob Quist or Libertarian Mark Wicks. Gianforte and Quist have bombarded the airwaves with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads, many of them conveying negative messages about the other candidate.
The discussion begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at the library. Panelists will discuss such questions as:
♦ What is the bedrock of civility?
♦ How have politics and the media shaped civility in society?
♦ How has technology changed civility?
♦ What are the best strategies to maintain civility?
Rocky Mountain College
Jolane Flanigan
The discussion also will include a question-and-answer session with the audience.
Panelists are Samuel Boerboom, an assistant professor in the department of communications and theater at Montana State University Billings and editor of “The Political Language of Food”; Jolane Flanigan, an assistant professor of communication studies at Rocky Mountain College; the Rev. Mike Mulberry, pastor of First Congregational Church in Billings; and David Crisp, a longtime journalist in Texas and Montana now affiliated with Last Best News.
