Since 2017, Ohio State has participated in the Columbus Foundation's "The Big Table" initiative, bringing together parties from across OSU's campus to participate in a community conversation. CEHV's Associate Director, Aaron Yarmel, facilitated this year's discussion on civil discourse and OSU's Listen.Learn.Discuss. initiative, working alongside Senior Vice President of Student Life, Melissa Shivers. 

Yarmel lead Ohio State students, parents, faculty, staff, and community partners in discussion guided by CEHV's "4Cs of Civil Discourse" inviting participants to discuss the ways being Curious, Charitable, Conscientious, and Constructive can make way for meaningful conversations amidst disagreement. In an Ohio State News story about the event, Yarmel is quoted saying, 

“We’re blessed to have a lot of different positions about all the issues that matter to us,” he said. “But what we’re also finding, and what I think a lot of us are experiencing, is that ideological diversity itself is never going be sufficient for civil discourse. And that’s where we need our tools to be able to actually have conversations across disagreements.”

Events like The Big Table invite representatives from across OSU's campus to come together and talk about issues that affect their lives and work that often go undiscussed. Generative discussion about these issues, however, takes more than sharing opinions and being open to listening to those with whom we may disagree. As Melissa Shivers said in discussing the purpose of The Big Table event:

“One of the things that we operate from in the Office of Student Life, specifically, is the desire to understand what the big problems are and then to quickly start to move to solutions,” said Melissa Shivers, senior vice president of Student Life. “It does no one any good to stay in the place of despair and frustration. How do we start to move issues forward for the betterment of the community?  

Bringing together individuals with diverse views on an issue is only the first step in tackling big problems. Making progress on tough questions requires tools and skills that move conversations beyond acknowledgement of divergent perspectives towards constructive civil discourse. CEHV's Civil Discourse for Citizenship program offers resources, events, and certificates for developing these skills. 

Read more about OSU's Big Table event, and explore all of CEHV's opportunities for building skills in Civil Discourse!