Conversation Starter: Dialogue on Campus
Marianthy Posadas-Nava is a junior at Gordon College, a Christian college in Wenham, Massachusetts. She became involved with the campus Dialogue Club in her freshman year, under the guidance of Essential Partners (EP). She continued to work with EP through an internship within the Office of Community Engagement, which engages in asset-based community development in neighboring cities (primarily Lynn). Over the last few months, Marianthy has been working with John Sarrouf at EP to research what the place of dialogue in higher education could be. She holds very deep interests in learning about why individuals feel polarized within their communities and facilitating a space for voices to be heard.
1. How did you get involved with campus dialogue efforts?
I was invited to be part of the start-up team of the Dialogue Club on campus fall of my freshman year. I remember not really knowing what I was signing up for, but the training under EP practitioner John Sarrouf changed a lot of my perceptions on mediation, communication efforts, and how to breach the gaps between polarized sides.
2. What do you think are the topics that are most in need of dialogue on campus?
At Gordon College, I see a need to build a community that trusts the polarized sides to even be found within a circle of dialogue. There are so many topics on this campus that drive the community to have to be on one side of a topic or another and drive the topic to become a pseudo-political discussion. These include topics of sexuality, diversity within the campus, sexual assault, racial bias, and many other "taboo" topics. All of these issues need to be addressed on every campus. Gordon has experienced particular points of contention within the student body, faculty, and administration because these issues are dealt with within a moralistic framework.
Sometimes the responsibility for dialogue falls on only one side of an issue or the other because one party denies the other space for safe, constructive conversation. In a roundabout way, it's most necessary to create a space for an initial dialogue within such a bipartisan community about how we would want to address any contentious issue.
3. What has been your greatest success with promoting on-campus dialogue? What still needs to happen and who needs to be involved?
In every club, organization, or publication that I have been involved in over the last three years, I've heard people name on-campus dialogue as a hope for Gordon. So, in each of those corners, I have been involved in promoting on-campus dialogue, but it has not been sustainable because there has not been one time where a large majority of voices on campus have pushed for on-campus dialogue. The small flames that are fueled in each corner, then die out quickly.
Currently, I am the editor-in-chief of If I Told You, which is a publication unlike any of its kind. I believe it’s one of the most beautiful things that Gordon has. Each year, the magazine is themed around a topic that is difficult to talk about within the church or a church community, featuring anonymous submissions from students and alumni. If I Told You has been working with Gordon's Dialogue Club since last year to promote on-campus dialogue, and our vision is that the partnership will continue to grow.
This collaboration is one step towards creating a framework for on-campus dialogue. It is my hope that collaboration across clubs and organizations would naturally promote dialogue on campus. Often our voices are so disjointed or isolated from one another—even within such a small institution—that the polarization of the community is intensified when the reality is distorted by our isolation. I think that partnerships and collaborations like ours will make that catalyst of change for topics to be processed in this institution of higher education.
4. What tips would you give students or educators interested in fostering constructive conversations about divisive issues on their campus?
There’s something powerful in having to give another person two minutes to talk. This is part of the structure of the dialogues with EP. I sit with your arguments and you sit with my arguments. We no longer hold a debate; we exchange monologues. There’s an empowering force for the self and the other when the need to respond is suspended, and we allow for our words to simply be heard.
No constructive conversation for divisive issues or safe space for students or educators to dialogue is ever going to be more than a dream if we're constantly concerned with measuring how wrong the other side is; we need to allow a few minutes of silence or reflection shake us out of reacting.
Questions for Every Conversation Starter
1. What is your favorite tip for promoting more open, constructive conversations?
Represent yourself. There’s no need to defend an opinion as if it depended on the way you represented it. A constructive conversation emerges beautifully when there’s this appreciation for the other when both people agree to let go of proselytizing to each other. When you just represent just yourself and your experiences, truly listening and engaging become possible; we become less isolated.
2. What in particular do you wish our society could have a more constructive conversation about?
Where the money is, the power is. I wish society could have a more constructive conversation about the power that is invested in the pockets of a minority in the world. The economic structures of our modern world are not representing the voices of our society. I want to talk about that.
3. What would you be most likely to be overheard in conversation about?
How can we engage deeper—and how can that engagement be sustainable and empowering over the long term? This is the question that has begun so many conversations with friends, family, and coworkers over the last year. So, you’d most likely overhear me in conversation about a very wide range of topics.