USU Hosts A Braver Campus Dialogue Forum

LOGAN, Utah — How should our campus community respond to controversial speakers? This question was at the forefront of a lively, informative and civil discussion on the campus of Utah State University on Sept. 24.

USU’s Heravi Peace Institute hosted the national College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance, with the open forum debate following the program called A Braver Campus Dialogue (ABCD). The program is meant to teach students and faculty how to honor ideological diversity, foster civil discourse on college campuses, and show how communities can engage across differences with respect and empathy.

The debate was moderated by Sadie Webb, associate director of the CD&D Alliance. Webb opened part one of the discussion by reminding participants that the discussion is non-competitive and non-combative, and that anyone is welcome to participate. Audience members were encouraged to listen, not interrupt, and to critique perspectives, but not people. She encouraged the participants to practice this same type of discourse in other areas of their lives.

“There’s a rapidly growing national movement for civil discourse that colleges and universities are at the forefront of,” she said. “When we create spaces for dialogue, we overwhelmingly see that students emerge from these events with a more positive outlook on political discourse. When they practice engaging across differences, students become more open to listening to others, more willing to share their own points of view, less likely to perceive people with different views as adversaries. Students want to have the hard conversations and are increasingly recognizing the necessity of doing so.”

Joining Webb on stage was Austin Knuppe, director of the Heravi Peace Institute. In his opening remarks, Knuppe began by quoting an op-ed from the New York Times, where a Rutgers professor argues that a commitment to civil discourse is simply window dressing for covering over perpetual injustice, and its use is only good for show. This is something with which Knuppe fundamentally disagrees.

“Those committed to conflict transformation do not settle on civility for civility's sake,” he told attendees. “Rather, we pursue truth, a just application of the rule of law, and transformative acts of forgiveness as the foundation for reconciliation. Whether it's the congregants of Emanuel Church in Charleston in 2015, or Erika Kirk's speech in Phoenix last weekend, conflicts transform when victims pursue reconciliation instead of resentment in the face of their pain and suffering.”

During the forum, participants shared a multitude of personal perspectives on the topic, with the moderators guiding the discussion forward and seeking to foster solution-oriented conversation. The discussion was broken into two parts: reflecting on the issue presented and a discussion of the merits of different proposed ideas and solutions.

The hope was for participants to emerge feeling that differing viewpoints are not obstacles, but essential components in addressing our most pressing political and social problems.

This event was planned many weeks prior to the events of September 10 at Utah Valley University. Webb says the topic is “unfortunately” timely and that she hopes more colleges will hold similar discussions with their students.

“We’re grateful that Utah State University decided to lean into this opportunity rather than back away from it,” Webb said. “We are hopeful that other campuses across the state and nation will be inspired do the same. The political violence that we’ve seen this year, including the tragedy at UVU unfortunately signals the timeliness of this work. Now more than ever, it is essential to create spaces for dialogue where people can courageously share their opinions and practice engaging with those who feel differently.”

The College Debates and Discourse Alliance, a joint national initiative of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), Braver Angels, and BridgeUSA, teaches thousands of students and faculty to embrace ideological diversity, foster respectful civil discourse on hundreds of college campuses, and cultivate leaders to carry the movement forward. For more information on the Braver Campus Dialogue, visit https://www.goacta.org/initiatives/college-debates/.