Ryan ChartrandBridget Veltri
news@mustangdaily.net
There will be 24 exhibits and 24 different ways for Cal Poly students to see democracy – though not quite in 24 hours.
Democracy 24 will be on display in the Kennedy Library between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. today.
“It is 24 exhibits about how different Cal Poly students view democracy, modeled after a clock and the hours in the day,” liberal arts and engineering studies senior Justin Alvarez said. “Democracy comes in all shapes and forms; it’s not solely a political ideology,” Alvarez said. “If you look at the exhibits, some of them have very little to do with politics.”
David Gillette, co-director of the liberal arts and engineering sciences major and English professor, spent a portion of the quarter teaching his classes about the different ways people define democracy both here and abroad. Three of Gillette’s classes put on Democracy 24.
“Most of the exhibits are designed to get people to ask themselves how they define democracy,” he said. “The goal is to get people to think about how they would define it for themselves.”
Democracy 24 isn’t about being a Democrat or a Republican, but about the subject of democracy as a whole, Alvarez said.
“We wanted to keep it as objective as possible.We aren’t focusing on political ideologies per say but about how we view democracy,” he said.
Gillette got the idea for the 24 hour theme from the Constitution Center in Philadelphia and a series of documentaries. Most of the exhibits in Democracy 24 were done as group projects with a few exceptions.
“Each group chose an hour and country and had two minutes through video and audio technology to demonstrate their definition of democracy,” Gillette said. “We wanted them to be a little abstract so people would have to think about the exhibits; they are designed to be short but complex and have depth to them.”
Visitors to Democracy 24 will be greeted by a massive protest. The first exhibit is about the role protests play in democracy.
“It’s about protests and how they keep democracies in check,” business senior Ben Eckold said. “Our whole vibe for our exhibit was to help people experience what it’s like to be a part of a protest through music, visuals and video footage of historical protests.”
All of the exhibits have some media element to them but some are more interactive than others.
Alvarez’s exhibit concerns the new U.S. citizenship test. In addition to information about it, visitors can take the test itself.
“It simulates what it would be like to go through one of the steps required to apply for citizenship,” he said.
Democracy 24 will be on display in the library room 202.
“I think people are going to be studying anyway, and it is a great study break,” Eckold said. “It encourages students to contemplate what democracy means to them.”