The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Yvonne Davis
Protecting free speech and civil discourse is more important today than it has ever been. The First Amendment protects our speech, but it is the free exchange of ideas that truly makes us a free society. In recent years, public debate has shifted to be defined by volume rather than substance, and disagreement is often met with dismissal and restriction rather than dialogue.
Civil discourse requires more than the freedom to speak. It is imperative that we get back to the basics of listening and providing a difference of opinion or opposition in a respectful forum. When discourse breaks down, disagreement turns into division, and conversations and public debate become an endless cycle of “us versus them.” When we truly have civil discourse in our society, we are better equipped to find solutions to the mutual problems we face rather than peddle in derogatory statements or animosity toward critics.
I learned this firsthand when I earned the chance to represent the University of Arizona and compete in the Regents’ Cup. The Regents’ Cup is the Arizona Board of Regents’ annual event that celebrates free speech and civil discourse. A collegiate competition among Arizona’s three public universities (Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona), it challenges students in Oxford-style debate and storytelling. While preparing for this competition, I quickly realized the Regents’ Cup is distinctive not just because of its format, but the way students are trained to participate and express their viewpoints with fellow students in a respectful manner.
Preparing for the Regents’ Cup requires learning how to construct persuasive arguments grounded in evidence and logic, not emotion alone. During the competition, I saw young men and women from different cultural backgrounds and belief systems engage with each other with openness and respect. The Regents’ Cup creates a space where ideas are challenged and where disagreement is treated as an opportunity for learning rather than conflict. The most valuable lesson I learned was that effective storytelling is not about performance or spectacle, but rather clarity, structure and purpose.
At the 2025 Regents’ Cup, I shared my personal story of innocence and wrongful arrest, contrasting my experience with the competition’s theme of “The Government and the People: The Social Contract”. I spoke about my life before and after becoming a defendant in the criminal justice system and the perseverance required to overcome the trauma of being confined in a cell and having my freedom taken away. I also shed light on how that experience shaped me as a Black and Native American woman navigating a system that often fails to see the full humanity of those within it.
Opportunities like the Regents’ Cup represent what higher education strives to provide students. Universities are uniquely positioned to serve as a formative experience that exposes students to diverse ideas, perspectives and ways of thinking. They also can shape how a student responds to and critically engages with those ideas. As students prepare to graduate and enter the workforce, our universities have a responsibility to prepare the next generation on how to participate in our shared society.
By creating the Regents’ Cup, the Arizona Board of Regents and the state’s public universities understand this responsibility. It symbolizes their priority to graduate students who are trained to reason and listen effectively and engage thoughtfully with ideas different from their own.
Free speech and civil discourse are essential to a democracy that is meant to thrive and grow. When ideas are shared responsibly and opposing viewpoints are given space to be heard, understanding and empathy endure. In a time when disagreement too often leads to shouting, we can do our part to help society improve by remembering that the most powerful voices are not the loudest, but the most thoughtful.
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