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The Program: A series of ten provocative and informative live debates, five in the fall, five in the spring, on the hot-button concerns of the day. Distributed nationally by NPR®, National Public Radio®, the programs reach a wide audience and attract as speakers the top experts, specialists and passionate advocates for both sides of each issue.
The Goal: To raise the level of public discourse on our most challenging issues. To provide a new forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis. To transcend the toxically emotional and the refexively ideological. To encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views.
The Approach: To take the traditional “grammar” of Oxford-style debate seriously, with one side proposing and the other side opposing a sharply-framed motion. Leading thinkers and authorities on the issues argue on each side of the motion. After the formal arguments, the debate is thrown open to the floor for questions, triggering a lively interchange among the speakers and audience members. A moderator keeps the proceedings orderly. Each side attempts to persuade the audience to vote their way. This adversarial context is electric, adding drama and excitement. The live audience will vote on the motion both before and after hearing the arguments, so there is a clear measure of how far people have actually been swayed.
The Where and When: The debates are held at Caspary Auditorium at The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue at 66th Street in New York City. Evenings begin at 6:00 p.m. with an aperitif on us; the debate begins at 6:45 p.m. and ends promptly at 8:30 p.m. The live audience, including leaders of New York’s media, policy, and business worlds, often choose to continue the discussion at some of the fine local restaurants.
The Background: IQ2US is an initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation. Building on a sold-out inaugural season last year, IQ2US is based on the highly successful debate program, Intelligence Squared, which began in 2002 in London. It is the brainchild of John Gordon, media entrepreneur, and Jeremy O’Grady, editor-in-chief of The Week. On both sides of the Atlantic, Intelligence Squared attracts a sell-out crowd of opinion leaders to each event.
The executive producer of IQ2US is Dana Wolfe, a former producer at ABC News Nightline, who has selected the extraordinary panels of expert speakers and moderator for the debates.
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