What does civil discourse look like? A question that students looking to build settings for respectful interactions asked themselves.
Having conversations in the political arena can be nerve-racking, but one student organization is looking to promote conversations across the aisle at Bowling Green State University (BGSU).
Common Grounds is a student organization seeking to create a non-partisan, student-led setting to increase engagement and community at BGSU. Co-founder and Vice President of Outreach, Anna McRay, wants to provide a place where students can practice civil discourse.
“It is a safe place for students to come together to have civil discourse about controversial topics, but in a non-threatening, non-aggressive, respectful and civil way,” McRay said.
The group is aimed at fostering critical thinking and collaboration amongst members from all disciplines. From political science to aviation, all majors and perspectives are welcome to be a part of building a community structured in civic dialogue. Bringing together a diverse group of ideas and people was what helped secure the name for Common Grounds.
“We’re bringing in all of these perspectives. You want a middle ground, you want a common area, and basically we combined those two to be Common Grounds,” McRay said.
The organization has goals of encouraging discussion while also challenging individuals in what they think and believe.
“We want to leave our silos, our silos of information, our silos of conformity with all of our friends, all of the beliefs that our families have,” McRay said. “We want to actually challenge ourselves to understand what are the perspectives and the values of someone across the political aisle as me?”
Helping people understand the perspectives and values in politics is a concept the organization looks to implement proactively. With the use of various forms of media, like articles, students will be tasked with choosing sources based on factors other than gravitating towards names and parties.
“This is going to have students actually rely on their values, understand their perspectives, because if you don’t know what way to vote other than what your parents say, this is a great time to actually critically think about, ‘what do [I] believe?’” McRay said.
Speaking of “grounds,” McRay and the rest of her team plan to have food and beverages at most meetings, like coffee. Having more sociable meeting times is meant to allow people to connect on other levels, other than politics.
“Everyone bonds over food. And when we don’t have our civil discourse meetings, we’re going to have the fun meetings. It will be every other week, always transitioning. So that way it’s equal because the fun, the socialization and the humanizing are just as valuable,” she said.
The implementation of this system came from a conference that both McRay and the Undergraduate Student Government President, Tiago Gaboardi, attended in November.
“The idea for the literacy, to block out sources and to have students talk about media as a way to actually strike up conversations, that came from an idea that I heard at the conference and then we kind of made it our own with Common Grounds,” McRay said.
Though getting to the middle ground can be a tall task, it all starts with breaking down walls of polarization. Something that McRay hopes her organization will be able to assist with in the BGSU community.
“My hope is that students feel that Common Grounds can be a safe space to talk about conversations where we truly do learn about civil dialogue. So beyond your four years, three years, whatever many years you have left at Bowling Green, you can still start taking that step and having that risk to engage and then converse with somebody of the opposite political spectrum as you, and break down those partisan barriers,” she said.
