Diversity & Inclusion Statement
At Political Union, we’ve valued free expression over just about anything else since we were founded in 2008. We have prized interaction between all kinds of opposing ideas and political affiliations, and we believe that with better argumentation and more frequent conversation, we can bring together our campus community. However, for many years, we neglected to explicitly state that Political Union strives to be inclusive and cognizant of all social identities, and we'd like to do that now.
Like many other majority-white student organizations at Northwestern, Political Union is grappling with how to best reform our programming and internal structures to become more inclusive to marginalized identities and experiences. And while we recognize that this process will be a lengthy one, we believe there’s something we can make clear to our community right away: Political Union does not and will not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, religious background, national origin, disability status, socioeconomic class, or gender identity at any of our events.
Sometimes, uncomfortable issues are discussed at Political Union, and there’s no way around that. Indeed, some of the most difficult issues are the ones that need discussion the most. What we can do is create a comfortable space to discuss sensitive topics.
Over the summer of 2020, we began to hash out an effective anti-hate speech enforcement system for our events that is consistent with our values of free discussion. We’ve come up with a system in three parts. First, any use of slurs or ad hominem attacks, which attack the speaker directly for their identity, will be immediately shut down by the moderator. Second, all executive board members are under directions to immediately call out anything harmful that is said at the event, in order to avoid placing the burden of response on the person attacked. Finally, in the event that something is missed by our exec board, we will have an anonymous response form that can be filled out by attendees after the fact who do not want to call the remark out in the event itself. Filling out that form will trigger a full board deliberation and response to the remark.
Because we are first and foremost a public forum, we are always eager to hear from you about how we can make our debates, Civics & Snacks, and Dinner & Discussions more welcoming and equitable in quarters to come. We understand that creating a diverse and inclusive space is an ongoing process, and we want to reassure you that our conversations surrounding how to make Political Union the best it can be are far from over. Our deepest hope is that Political Union can approach important and controversial discourse while maintaining its inclusivity - and we hope you’ll join us on the way.