Its name? Controversy N’ Coffee.

This group, which meets weekly, holds panels once a month on political topics with professors, administrators and community members who specialize in the subject of the month.

The goal of the group is to help educate students and create a forum for them and their professors to discuss issues.

“We thought that there wasn’t enough opportunity to hear professors speak outside of the classroom. We wanted to have an opportunity for students to get to hear them speak outside of the classroom setting where they’re bound by this curriculum,” said sophomore Eliana Wilk, the external vice president of Controversy N’ Coffee (CnC).

This mentality encouraged the club’s leaders to create CnC, which began last year but has become a weekly club this semester.

“There was a group of people that saw this campus as having really great professors, really great faculty, that do a lot of good research and are very passionate,” sophomore Thomas Hernandez, the president of CnC, said. “But rarely do students get to interact with those people on a regular basis outside of the regular classroom setting. We wanted to create something that people could identify as bringing together diverse faculty, so they can talk about what they’re passionate about.”

The setup of the forums encourages such an interaction. Typically, there is a 20-minute discussion amongst the panelists that outlines and introduces the topic, then a 40-minute back-and-forth between panelists and attendants in response.

Panelists are then requested to stay another half hour to talk, mingle and drink coffee with students and other attendees in what the group hopes will be a low-key atmosphere.

Members of CnC pick the topics they will discuss each month, and then the rest of the group votes to decide which topic will be the next discussed.

“We do have sort of a political focus because we discuss issues that are politically relevant,” Wilk said.

Upcoming topics include alcohol on campus, gay marriage, fair trade and arts in education. The next forum, about alcohol on campus, will be held on Jan. 27.

The group is looking to cosponsor events in the future with other student groups. Last year’s forum on education, for example, was planned with Each One Teach One and had a turnout of about 100 people and a member of the St. Louis Board of Education on the panel.

“For every [forum in the future,] we’re going to try to work together not only to increase our visibility, but to avoid doing the same thing,” Hernandez said.

Despite the political charge of the group, the members of CnC hope not to push an agenda but to expose people to ideas.

“We want that dialogue, and we want it to be on our terms to be the neutral third party, not for us to dictate what people believe,” Hernandez said.

Club members submit all of the questions to the panel and a moderator coordinates the ensuing debates. Students can get closer to the panelists after the formal discussion. Last year one student was so inspired by a professor that he ended up getting an internship with the professor.

The executive board has been pleased with the group’s progress but wants to increase involvement.

“The more events that we do, the more people are going to know who we are and that what gets the group going having more recognition and having more people attend our events,” Wilk said. “I’m very happy with the events themselves. We’ve had successful panels. The goal is to get the word out there and keep doing what we’re doing.”