Emotions flared on the Brigham Young University campus Nov. 6 after a political debate, hosted by the BYU Democrats, BYU Republicans and the Peacemaker Project, concluded with students shouting "Free Palestine" as they exited the Joseph Smith Building auditorium.
The shouting, which included the remark, "The event is over, I can yell," prompted Ashton Blake, president of the BYU Republicans, to request that the students stop. Heckling had been prohibited during the debate.
"That was unfortunate," Blake said after the confrontation. "I could have done without it."
Despite the post-debate disruption, Blake and other club leaders were pleased with the main event, which featured moderated discussions on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and abortion bans.
“I think it went great … the debaters were very well prepared and, in general, were very civil towards each other. And I’m very impressed with the audience,” Blake said.
Taryn Frerichs, president of BYU Democrats, agreed with Blake about the debaters' preparedness and audience engagement.
“I was really happy with the way the moderating went. Things went smoothly,” Frerichs said.
Both academic associations collaborated with the Peacemaker Project to organize the debate. They had individual processes for choosing debaters.
The event's goals were to encourage civic engagement and respectful discourse for BYU students. There was “big effort from all three organizations,” Blake said.
Before the debate began, the Peacemaker Project co-presidents Emma Conde and Jessie Moore addressed attendees.
“We hope as we follow the prophetic call to be peacemakers, that this will spark meaningful conversations between you and your peers after this debate is over,” Conde said.
Henry Demke, a senior studying public health, attended the debate and said students should avoid being apolitical on the BYU campus.
“Peacemaking is about actually hearing people and engaging with curiosity and compassion, not just avoiding the conflict altogether,” Demke said.
Volunteers for the Peacemaker Project handed out rubrics to students as they walked in, encouraging them to participate and reflect on the questions.
The rubric included questions about the debater's performance and civility, straw-man arguments and overall respect.
Demke enjoyed the debate but was disappointed in the audience behavior, and said there were people “tittering” throughout the event.
“At BYU, it’s hard because there are genuine religious connections on both sides,” Demke said, regarding the high emotions of audience members.
Frerichs said the interruption following the event made her nervous.
“One of the main things we wanted to avoid was heckling,” Frerichs said. “It’s an interesting situation because you don’t really know what to do.”
After multiple rounds of shouting, Blake took the microphone to ask the students to stop. Another audience member chimed in as well.
“More than anything, we don’t want that kind of behavior because it deters people from engaging in politics out of fear of retaliation,” Frerichs said.
Organization leaders intentionally selected controversial topics relevant to students, including the abortion debate round that began the evening.
"We wanted to have topics that were salient," Blake explained, "because that’s when it’s hardest to be a peacemaker.”
Moore added that the overall goal was to “get people exposed to new perspectives.”
Leaders and audience members agreed that it is important not to shy away from political discussions.
Frerichs said she hopes that students know “they’re not alone in their political beliefs, no matter what they are.”
Students can find political communities on campus with the BYU Democrats, BYU Republicans and the Peacemaker Project, all found on the BYU clubs website.
All three organizations are active on Instagram and plan to hold more events throughout the academic year.
