COMPAS Points is a bulletin of the Center for Ethics and Human Values (CEHV) and Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA). It offers original research about Ohio State student attitudes on contentious issues related to CEHV's COMPAS ("Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society") program.
The research is organized around a series of online deliberative forums for first-year Ohio State undergraduates using a platform called “Common Ground for Action” of the National Issues Forums Institute.
COMPAS Points Volume 1, released in 2017, reports on a series of deliberative forums on economic inequality, security, and opportunity, in connection with that year's Inequality COMPAS program. Highlights include:
- Students are focused on educational opportunities and job training
- Students welcome the opportunity for deliberation
- Online deliberative forums can produce reflectively-endorsed changes in people’s preferences
COMPAS Points Volume 2, published in 2020 in connection with the "What Is America?" COMPAS program, investigates students' views about possible actions that could be taken to improve American democracy. This study was led and authored by Jon Kingzette (PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science). Key results include:
- Students value free expression of controversial viewpoints, but are open to social media restrictions on threatening speech
- Students favor nonpartisan commissions to draw fair voting districts, and removing obstacles to voting
- Students increased their respect for the views of people they disagree with after participating in the deliberative forum
With the help and support of Ohio State's First Year Success Series, more than 325 first-year students have taken part in the deliberative forums. At a time of great political polarization and presumed political apathy among young people, Ohio State students have welcomed the chance to deliberate with their peers rather than retreat to partisan positions.
Watch this space for future issues...