The assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah last month brought renewed attention to the ways Americans debate and engage in political dialogue.

Kirk was famous in part for his back and forth with students on college campuses, moments he posted on social media that often went viral.

Judy Woodruff reports now on the spectacle that debate has become in the U.S. and

what it means for our ability to disagree. It's part of her series, America at a crossroads.

Friends, this is a real honor to see y'all.

At the College of Charleston in South Carolina, communications professor Michael Lee is on

a mission. We're going to go around the room and talk about the debates that I asked you to watch.

Lee directs the civility initiative and calls his students free expression fellows.

His goal is to improve the nature of our debates, dialogue, and disagreements.

Can all agree to disagree in some ways?

And I think that it feels a little bit more doable.

Not really like as much respect and politeness, more just like basic, like,

it's okay, we can disagree and just move on.

Lee's students learn how to organize productive debates and discussions,

like one earlier this month on campus, between two

former South Carolina lawmakers, Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy, and Democratic State Legislator

Bacari Sellers. This country will become better for the types of dialogues that we're having

now. It is easy to hate someone that you know

nothing about. You get to know them and the differences may remain, but the hate dissipates.

The origins of debate trace back to at least ancient Greece, where philosophers and scholars

of rhetoric taught students how to argue multiple sides of a given

issue.

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