Intellectuals Gathering To Discuss A Incivility In America

Is society getting meaner?

A group of 48 prominent intellectuals, journalists, historians and sociologists will gather Monday at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss an “explosion of incivility” in American society and around the globe.

The “Penn Commission on Society, Culture and Community,” said University President Judith Rodin, will attempt to shed light on what many see as a burgeoning spirit of meanness that encourages violence, blocks social reform and tarnishes the national political debate.

The group will meet twice a year for the next three years to discuss the rising tide of rudeness and - if possible - how to stem it.

Committee members include author E.L. Doctorow, retiring New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the dean of Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, humorist Calvin Trillin and former Harvard University President Derek C. Bok. Overseas guests hail from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council and the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Paul Begala, a political strategist for President Clinton’s 1992 campaign, said harshness in American political dialogue is as old as the country itself, but has gotten worse in modern times - and both parties are guilty.

The trend is being played out in courtrooms and campuses as well, in heated protests over affirmative action to increased litigation for age and sex discrimination, said Paul R. Verkuil, a lawyer and former president at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

“People have been destabilized in our culture, and they’re looking for alliances - the more groups there are, the more potential clashes there are,” he said. “I don’t think the common denominators are as clear as they once were - there’s no Walter Cronkite.”