BYU’s public health department and professor Jeff Glenn facilitate Campus Conversations, an initiative designed to foster peacemaking and healthy dialogue around controversial issues.
Nearly four years after its launch, Glenn’s Campus Conversations project continues to impact students by teaching them how to communicate across divisive topics in the classroom and campus settings.
The initiative promotes constructive conversational habits surrounding political, economic and other potentially disruptive topics. Because these discussions can often become emotionally charged or disorderly, the project aims to encourage reconciliation — or at least understanding — between individuals with differing perspectives.
Ellie Jacob, a public health graduate student, serves as the project lead under Glenn. Jacob recently entered BYU’s 4+1 MPH program, through which she is earning both a Bachelor of Science in public health and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree.
According to Jacob, Campus Conversations addresses many “hard things,” including media polarization, international affairs, mental health and climate change. She and her team partner, Jack Manue, said abortion and immigration are among the most frequently discussed topics.
“These topics we discuss are a lot more in the gray area than black and white,” Jacob said. “There’s a lot more depth to these things, and there’s always more room to create understanding.”
Kassie Sanders, an MPH student graduating in April, emphasized the importance of individual growth in fostering change. “Health behavior change starts with the individual,” Sanders said. “If people have better skills to communicate, it can help a lot in creating solutions.”
Student facilitator Emily Bond also believes that differing opinions are a strength. When individuals come together and engage respectfully, she said, they can create better solutions to complex problems.
“Stretching your thinking, especially when it comes to media, is really important,” Bond said. “We start to believe our opinion is the only correct one because it’s the only one we ever see. But when you have these conversations, you realize we’re not as different as we think.”
Following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Bond represented BYU’s Campus Conversations at a press conference at the Utah State Capitol. She described the experience as sobering, noting how individuals from opposing political, religious and demographic backgrounds came together with a shared concern about growing polarization.
“They all agreed the world is too polarized,” Bond said, “and that something has to be done about it.”
Campus Conversations typically hosts one to two events per semester, often in collaboration with BYU’s Sorensen Center and Ballard Center.
Students interested in getting involved can find them on Instagram or email byucampusconversations@byu.edu to participate directly.
“The greatest mission of BYU is lifelong learning,” Jacob said. “Another huge principle that BYU and the gospel teach is to love one another. When you put those two things together, it creates this great opportunity to learn from one another and, through that learning, increase our capacity to love one another.”
