By Genely Barajas |Staff Writer|

A heated panel discussion, “Truth, Lies, and Bullshit,” led by faculty members took place on Jan. 25 in an effort to seek out fraught topics and current events.  

The panel consisted of psychology professors Dr. Matthew Davidson, Dr. Chris Naticchia and Chairman of Philosophy Dr. Tony Roy.

The Pine Room in the lower Commons, served as a safe place where many members of the Inland Empire voiced their concerns about President Donald Trump.

The panel began with Roy defining the meanings of truth, lies and the differentiation between lying and “bullshitting.”

“It started out with really simple explanations which is great because there is a difference between bullshit and falsehood, so it quickly turned political and I thought that was very interesting,” voiced Michelle Terrazas. 

Dr. Matthew Davidson discussed some facts on Trump and Clinton.

Davidson mentioned that according to PolitiFact, Clinton lied 26 percent of the time during her campaign.

PolitiFact also reported that Trump lied about 70 percent, yet some in the public still chose to believe that Clinton was the bigger liar.

“Donald Trump lies a lot—even things he doesn’t need to lie about,” joked Dr. Davidson.

Under Trump’s presidency, our nation is becoming divided and many communities are distraught about what the next four years will bring.

Time has been spent, blood has been shed and walls have been torn down in order for groups such as those who support women’s rights, the LGBTQIA community and Dreamers to have equal rights.

Now that one man threatens to reverse all hard earned efforts, marches and protests have happened all over the United States.

“Trump is nothing like we’ve ever seen before. He has grabbed power by completely going outside of democratic norms and I don’t know what that means coming forward,” said Dr. Davidson.

“Donald is losing supporters since he’s been elected and I’m speculating it’s because of all the bullshitting he’s done to the media,” added Dr. Chris Naticchia.

One audience member shared that his friend who voted for Trump, became frightened after realizing the implications of Trump’s presidency and quickly regretted his decision.

“Truth, Lies, and Bullshit” ended with an open-ended discussion for students to vocalize any questions, comments or concerns they had.

“I was happy, I thought there were good discussion and questions. We were mainly concerned with we being clear about what’s going on,” said Roy.

There were many participants, each with very different opinions. No disrespectful or judgemental comments were shared.

“I thought it was interesting that we could come together as Coyotes to discuss something that people are very opinionated about and do it without people getting upset,” said Wesley LockHart.

Especially now when everyone is strictly affiliated this is a proud moment for our campus to know they can have events like this that do not end in altercations.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and should be encouraged to share them.

“In two years I would hope you all vote because if you were upset with the election, but you are a citizen who did not vote you don’t really have a voice,” continued LockHart.

“I definitely recommend another one of these, it’d be great for students to really engage in political discussions,” mentioned Terrazas.

“I feel like a lot of students are afraid of engaging in these things,” added Terrazas.

The panel discussion created a safe and respectful atmosphere for those to gain insight about politics and learn resourceful information.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, just getting yourself out there and expressing your opinion makes all the difference,” said Terrazas.

Coyotes should continue to do their part as spokespeople, supporters and doers so that we as a nation can voice and stand up for what we want.