It’s about listening to all voices — particularly those in the middle — and respectfully engaging in dialogue.

That was the consensus of a group of Lawrence businessmen, politicians and concerned residents who spent Wednesday afternoon at West Junior High School, 2700 Harvard Road, discussing strategies for making public discourse more civil.

The Leadership Lawrence division of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event as a sequel to the “Civility: Expanding Community Dialogue” town meeting that was conducted in February 2004.

“A lot of the feedback we got from that was, ‘We want to talk about how to make difference in our community,'” said Nancy Longhurst, director of Leadership Lawrence.

As a response to that feedback, Leadership Lawrence designed Wednesday’s program with the intention of identifying some key steps that could help improve Lawrence’s civil discourse.

The seminar attendees split up into three breakout groups, each charged with a different task: one discussed current impediments to civility, one discussed strategies for improving civility, and one devised a “civility pledge” that will be presented to local governing bodies.

In opening remarks at the seminar, Andy Tompkins, the commissioner of the Kansas Department of Education, told the crowd that the emergence on the public stage of issues that were once considered private has contributed to a increase in political hostility.

“When you take issues that are so personal and you elevate it to a public debate, it starts getting so divisive,” Tompkins said. “I think it feeds on itself if we don’t start trying to find ways to create an environment where it can be talked about.”

Andy Tompkins, commissioner of the Kansas State Department of Education, places emphasis on a quote while speaking to a group of Lawrence residents at West Junior High. Tompkins was the featured guest speaker at Civility II, a conference that facilitated discussion of themes such as leadership and civility in the public square, on Wednesday at the school.

In particular, Tompkins said, the “us-versus-them” mentality that dominates much public debate has squeezed out valuable voices of moderation — a sentiment that was echoed in the breakout discussions.

“Not everyone is always at the table sharing as part of the discussion,” said Karen Christilles, who moderated the breakout group on impediments to civility. “The emotion that people bring into the room sometime makes other people feel like they can’t engage or become part of the dialogue, so there are moderates who aren’t coming forward to talk.”

Longhurst said the initial version of the “civility pledge” that was drafted Wednesday would be revised and then presented to local governing bodies, which will be encouraged to adopt it.

“We’ll tweak it and take it out into the community, and hopefully it will be something that we can all live up to,” she said.