DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- A recent Harvard Youth Poll found one-third of college students in the U.S. are uncomfortable sharing their political views while on campus.
Officials at Ohio Wesleyan University want to make sure students don’t shy away from these tough conversations but instead welcome them.
“It is actually your ability to speak up and have conversations about things that matter to you that is central to democratic participation," said Dr. Ashley Biser, associate professor of Politics and Government at Ohio Wesleyan University. "We are seeing a lot of students that are stepping back from politics, who are scared to go into those conversations because they don’t want conflict.”
Biser is leading the rollout of a new training for staff and students called "Perspectives" in partnership with the Constructive Dialogue Institute. The online training aims to encourage healthy conversations surrounding the election.
“They can use those skills to have conversations that they believe in,” she said.
The training begins with an explanation of the psychology behind where people’s different beliefs and values come from. From there, it introduces them to five principles to help students navigate tough conversations. Those include: let go of winning, ask questions to understand, share your story and invite others to do the same, make yourself and others feel heard, and find what’s shared.
“I know for a while I’ve sort of been the type where I just didn’t want to hear people that have other views because it would just make things almost feel confrontational. It made me realize it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Jack Gatchel, a junior at Ohio Wesleyan University.
He completed the training and said that the training gets taken off of the screen too. There have been several events and panels that Biser has hosted to turn this training into action.
“She had us discuss some of our viewpoints with people that we haven’t talked to before without trying to prove it in an argument, more just saying why we feel this way or why this issue matters to us,” said Gatchel.
You can learn more about Perspectives here.
