“That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” said CNN’s Jake Tapper when describing the first presidential debate. And Tapper’s description was tame compared to some other online reactions! So, we decided to catch up with our own Professor Robert Groven to better understand how this political spectacle challenged an important part of the democratic process.
Professor Groven has been involved in debate, argumentation and political communication for years as a director/coach and is highly regarded within the community. His dedication to the social practice of debate showcases what some might consider to be an increasingly important function of public argumentation. For more information on his work, check out the Minnesota Urban Debate League Website.
Professor Groven wasted no time when asked for his reaction to the first presidential debate: “That was not a debate. There was a lot of social conflict, but almost no actual argument that took place.”
He went on to voice concerns about the impact of this kind of public spectacle masking itself as true argument. He fears that when people encounter this sort of performance, they often turn away from debate—often in “well intentioned” ways, as the professor puts it—to minimize conflict. His fear is that disdain for debate and public argument “emboldens people to speak only from within their bubbles,” as Groven describes it. A one-sided mentality can encourage extremism and a lack of empathy for others.
Professor Groven says challenging ideas through the process of argumentation is “crucial to testing these ideas within a democracy.”
“If we don’t test ideas, what we tend to get is more and more hyper-polarization, and eventually dangerous authoritarian rhetoric,” he added; something he believes will threaten democracy and free expression. More political displays like the first presidential debate will only cause people to become further, “disillusioned with public argument.” His fear is that if the public views debates as part of the problem instead of the solution to polarization, it will tear at the fabric of our democratic process.
As for the separate Town Hall Meetings that took place after the first debate, Groven was disenchanted that some people found these events to be a satisfactory replacement for a debate. “The town halls were only another platform for one-sided political stumping,” he commented. “They do not allow voters to compare the candidate’s ideas to each other, or to the facts.”
As we race to towards one of the more important elections in modern history, it is increasingly important for us all to watch and participate in these events using a more critical lens.
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, many of our faculty often worked six days a week. Why? Because in the early ‘80s, Augsburg created Weekend College, a school for “working adults,” with 3 ½ hour class sessions on either alternate Friday nights, Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoons, or (gulp) Sunday afternoons. WEC, as it was called, was a huge financial success; during its early years, WEC and a similar program at St. Catherine’s pretty much owned that market of 30-year-olds with full-time jobs in the Twin Cities–and beyond! (We had WEC students who commuted from as far away as western Wisconsin and northern Michigan.) And although the average age for a WEC student was in the low 30s, one WEC student–a retired airline pilot–finished his degree at Augsburg at the age of 69.
In its heyday, (especially through the mid-‘90s,) total WEC enrollment was in the 1,500 range, and the presence of non-traditional age students on campus was evident; Augsburg became their weekend home, especially since many of them took more than one course each trimester. At one point In our department, we had 150 WEC majors and 150 traditional day school majors! It was quite a task to manage, since the only full-time faculty available to advise these 300 people were Deb Redmond and David Lapakko. Suffice it to say that we didn’t schedule half-hour meetings with each of them!
Augsburg Weekend College Catalog ’92-93
WEC students tended to be very good students. They were old enough to have both the skill-set and the motivation to succeed in college. According to data collected by Augsburg at the time, WEC students had GPAs that averaged half a grade higher than day school students. In most cases, day school students were able to cross-register and take a certain number of WEC classes. We often thought that was a good thing: those thirty-somethings were good role models for our traditional age students, even though sometimes the WEC students seemed to prefer being in class with only people in their age range.
By the turn of the century, WEC was facing many challenges–most notably, an increasingly competitive marketplace in which many schools were offering options for working adults. WEC enrollment started to dip, and that dip became a slow and steady downward slide. As a result, in the last five years, WEC has now become “AU,” or the Adult Undergraduate program. And rather than being a weekend program, AU is a weeknight program, with only a few hundred students and a reduced number of majors, including the elimination of Communication Studies as one of those majors.
For at least three decades, though, WEC provided an important boost to Augsburg in a number of ways, and we all have those WEC students to thank for keeping Augsburg vibrant and financially solvent. Every time you walk into an Augsburg classroom, thank a WEC student! The main reason we now have tables and chairs in every room instead of those individual student desks is that WEC students thought the individual desks were too confining and reminded them too much of high school. That alone is reason to worship their memory.
Next time: When Auggies took lots of courses at St. Thomas, or Hamline, or Macalester; the ACTC cross-registration years.
Surprise, surprise–not that long ago, communication technology was quite different in our department and on this campus. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, we had this amazing piece of machinery called a VHS player. With it, we could see instructional videos in class and record student presentations–how cool was that? But, this equipment had to be housed somewhere. 171 Foss, which is now a suite for the offices of our department faculty, was Augsburg’s A/V headquarters for many years. If you wanted to show a video in class, you needed to reserve a cart–a tall, gangly thing that had a large TV monitor on the top shelf and a VHS player on the shelf underneath. These top-heavy metal behemoths were on wheels, and there were perhaps a dozen of them.
Throughout the day, you’d see A/V student workers pushing these carts all over campus to classrooms where they had been reserved. It didn’t matter if there was a blizzard or a thunderstorm; someone had to push them through the snow, across the streets, and over the curbs. And, you counted yourself as fortunate to get one, because sometimes they were all in use in particular time slots. Back then, if you wanted to record student presentations, you could go to the library and check out a camera. But there were not things like mp4s, or online links, so if students wanted to see what they had done, they needed to get the VHS tape and find a place to play it.
In the meantime, technology was revolutionizing faculty offices. Throughout most of the 20th century, students would have to be very lucky to contact their professors. They could try them during their posted office hours, or they could phone them, but if the person wasn’t in, they were pretty much sunk. But then, along came voicemail! Now we could leave recorded messages for faculty and staff, 24/7. Especially in the early ‘90s, voicemail was all the rage; my goodness, you could program the phone to include all the phone extensions in your department, and send them all a group voicemail message. Now, of course, we would send such a note via email, but that wasn’t an option back then. Still, we felt quite privileged to have such state of the art equipment–including overhead projectors in every classroom!
Next time: When “working adults” roamed around campus by the hundreds–the glorious era of Weekend College.
If you were an Augsburg student prior to 1988, Lindell Library and Oren Gateway Center didn’t exist–in fact, in their place was the college’s main parking lot. What would become Foss Center was simply a bare plot of land. Occupying the edge of the main parking lot on 22nd and Riverside was a rickety old building that housed North Country Coop, a predecessor to places like Whole Foods and The Wedge. It’s where Auggies and residents of Cedar-Riverside got their bagels and granola.
Your classes were likely to be in the Science Building or Old Main. You would not be majoring in Communication Studies, but rather, Speech Communication. And you would be in a joint department–the Department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre–with, as often as not, a chair who was a theatre professor. Some theatre professors even taught COM 111 on a fairly regular basis.
In the mid-‘80s, you wouldn’t be taking Intercultural Communication, Introduction to Communication Studies, Research Methods, Nonverbal Communication, or Family Communication because none of these courses existed. And there was no forensics program either.
When Foss was opened in the fall of ’88, it was designed with the idea that all the communication faculty could easily fit into the corridor that houses 178-180 Foss, which has three offices (currently occupied by Professors Groven, Chamberlain, and Lapakko). Who in their right mind could imagine a communication department with more than three full-time faculty? Now, of course, we have six, if you include film and new media studies.
In short, the ‘80s were in many ways a simpler time, and our footprint on campus was more modest.
Next time: When the VHS era was in full swing and voicemail arrived!
Jenny Hanson, Bob Groven, Wes Ellenwood, and Kristen Chamberlain kept proper social distance while spending the morning at a departmental retreat on Kristen’s deck. (Also present but not pictured: Jenna McNallie and David Lapakko.)
As we approach a new school year that is bound to be filled with unexpected challenges and surprises, full-time department faculty met on August 25 to get ready for 2020–and beyond! As always, there are issues regarding staffing, finances, curriculum, technology, and classroom pedagogy, among others.
We are looking forward to making Zoom and Moodle useful for all students and faculty; it’s a daunting task and we’ll be doing our best to make it all work.
George Latimer discusses baseball in Ellenwood’s upcoming documentary.
Assistant Professor Wesley Ellenwood, a member of the Film Studies faculty at Augsburg University, is making a full-length documentary about the history of the Minneapolis Millers and the Saint Paul Saints. One of the people interviewed for this film was former mayor of the City of Saint Paul, George Latimer. Professor Ellenwood anticipates his documentary will be completed in 2020.
It’s me again, Wyatt Beckson, a graduating senior. I know this pandemic hasn’t been the friendliest to us, especially those of us graduating this year. Nonetheless, we can still reflect on the benefits this department and university has provided us with, including the film program’s equipment – available to all majors/minors in the program.
For me, the Canon XA40 is about the most practical and versatile camera that I’ve used from the equipment room. This camera is very compact, making it very easy to handle when using handheld shots. Additionally, the touch screen design makes handling and manipulating the in-camera settings very manageable. Another aspect of this camera that I like is the two XLR audio ports, allowing you to utilize any of the XLR cables we have available, enabling you to hook up literally any applicable microphone directly to the camera. If you haven’t tried this tactic yet, using this methodology takes away the extra tedious step of syncing your audio, which could take hours. What’s more, you can do all of these things while shooting in beautiful 4k imagery!
I know you might be intrigued, but are probably wondering about the drawbacks of using this camera. Luckily enough for you, I can honestly only think of just one. This one major drawback isn’t even that big of an inconvenience. The thing to keep in mind when using the XA40 is that the video output for this camera will be a single AVCHD folder. This means that no matter how many clips of video you take, you will always only end up with one file that also has an undefined file size. Having that said, always be mindful to upload your files to a hard drive with plenty of space, just for insurance.
I hope I’ve provided you all with an at least decent source of advice or perspective. Hopefully, with this information, we can all become more practical filmmakers and scholars.
Your resident film major, Wyatt Beckson ‘20 He/Him/His
During this time of social distancing and self-isolation, I’m sure one of the biggest questions you’re asking yourself during this social fiasco is “how do I stay busy?” Like you, I’ve asked myself that question plenty of times. However, through my own experience, I’ve devised a plan that, hopefully, at least one of you can use to your advantage. This is my list of six things you can do to stay busy during quarantine!
#1 Watch Netflix
Yes, I know this might seem pretty obvious as a film major, but hear me out! There’s an insane amount of genuinely amazing films out on Netflix RIGHT NOW! If you’re looking for something funny, The Hangover is right up your alley! If you’re looking for something more serious, There Will Be Blood is the perfect gem for you. Want to relive the plight of high school? The Perks of Being a Wallflower is right there waiting for you. Is there a side of you that makes you feel like a mob boss? Goodfellas is here to make you question what the word “funny” really means. Do you have an itch that just won’t go away, and only a Spaghetti Western can relieve you of that irritation? The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is the itch cream to soothe your desires. There’s more you can explore on your own! Trust me, there are films you never thought you would have found! All you need is time (and you’ve got lots of it) in a time of social distancing!
#2 Tune into one of the Film Department’s weekly Film Fridays
I know I’ve mentioned Netflix earlier, but perhaps you’re more of a social filmgoer like myself. If that’s the case, I have a convenient solution! Every Friday at 9 pm, for the rest of the semester, I will be hosting a Netflix watch party, showing a different film each week! All you need to do to join is have Google Chrome as an internet browser, download the extension “Netflix Party”, and I’ll send you the link to the watch party!
#3 Write that script you never had time to produce
As I mentioned before, we have plenty of time to kill during the quarantine. Why not use it to your advantage? Now is the perfect time to write that script that you’ve been holding back on! Even if you use baby steps, using this time to accomplish that goal will give you something to do, and give you that burst of relief once you finish it.
#4 Make a short film
Listen, I know we don’t currently have the resources provided by the equipment room to check out, that grade-A equipment like we normally do. However, a good amount of us have a camera on our phones, enabling a lot of us to shoot something, even if it is in the comfort of our own space!
#5 Offer up your skills as a freelancer
While this might not be the most favorable choice by many, we certainly have to acknowledge that the employment market is suffering, and will continue to suffer as a result of the coronavirus. With this in mind, if you’re looking for some extra money, freelancing is certainly an opportunity for you to make some. Luckily, we live in the age of the internet. This means that a lot of things are happening over the internet! And they need videos! Take advantage of that opportunity and make some cash while you up your skills as a filmmaker!
#6 Brush up on your other creative outlets
At least in my own experience, I know a lot of filmmakers who have other artistic passions and desires. One of my best friends, Lukas, is also a singer/songwriter, and loves to draw on the side. Like him, I also draw during my spare time. This is where I’d like to encourage all of you to either find a new creative outlet, or brush up on an existing one, just for the sake of relieving anxiety and passing the time. Maybe like me, drawing is your thing. Maybe it’s something different, like graphic design, photography, poetry, music, painting, knitting, or something completely different! Now is definitely the time to find something creative that you deem is therapeutic to your wellbeing. There are plenty of scientific entities supporting this idea. If it helps me out, maybe it’ll help you out too!
Hopefully, there is at least one thing on this list that can help stay busy during the quarantine. Believe me, I’m well aware that this is not an easy time, and likely, it’s gonna be something we’ll have to endure for a while longer. As so many people have said before, as long as you can keep your mind and body running, we can march through this ordeal through the very end. Stay safe, stay busy, and as Dory says, “Just keep swimming”.
Your resident film major,
Wyatt Beckson ‘20 Film Production Major, Graphic Design Minor He/Him/His
Written by Preston Peterson | Photos provided by Linh Dao
Linh Dao taking on her first day at Target.
Linh Dao is one of our newest alumni and is already a success story! She graduated in Fall 2019 with degrees in New Media and Graphic Design. Linh has just started work as an Inclusive Marketing Council Assistant with BrandLab at Target. The position involves helping build cultural competency as well as working on projects having to do with brand safety, communication strategy, and risk management.
Linh Dao (left) and Jenny L. Hanson (right) at the UFVA Conference in Minneapolis.
Linh’s advice to current students is to make connections with professors as well as to be a part of as many internships as you can. During her time at Augsburg, Linh followed her own advice and took many opportunities to get experience before graduation. She was an Event Planning Intern for The Arc Minnesota and a Graphic Design Intern for both the Metropolitan Council and Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Linh held similar roles on campus, such as Social Media Chair for Augsburg Student Activity Council and President of the Augsburg International Student Organization. She also made valuable connections with faculty. Linh worked on an URGO project in 2019 on information bias and data visualization using Google Maps with Director of Film and New Media, Jenny Hanson. Linh is presenting her project at the Pop Culture Association National Conference in April.
When asked about how her major prepared her for her job, Linh said “Graphic Design teaches me how to “make” the message and “create” the visual. New Media guides me on how to “re-fashion” the message, “deliver” it to the receiver, and “interpret” how the message will be understood.”
To connect with Linh, you can find her on LinkedIn.
![[Image with text] Sideview of a hand working a laptop. "The Communicator" appears over the image](http://www.augsburg.edu/communication/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2019/03/TheCommunicator10802.jpg)
