Chicago summit promotes constructive dialogue as a way to bridge polarizing divides

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Student leaders from across the country flew to Chicago last week for a summit by BridgeUSA. The organization promotes constructive dialogue as a way to bridge political polarization and teach cross-party dialogue. WBEZ's Anna Savchenko was there to listen in.

ANNA SAVCHENKO, BYLINE: I am in a conference hall in a fancy hotel in downtown Chicago. The room is filled with probably more than 100 teens and college students wearing suits and ties and blazers.

Hi, guys. Good morning.

EVELYN MINEO: Hi. My name is Evelyn Mineo. I'm from...

SAVCHENKO: I meet students Evelyn Mineo and Katie Cline during breakfast. They run the BridgeUSA chapter at Pomona College, the Southern California school they attend. Mineo says it needed a group like theirs.

MINEO: I don't think that there are any clubs on campus with a specific design of bringing people with different opinions together.

SAVCHENKO: Local BridgeUSA chapters host discussions on hot-button topics dividing politicians. They consider themselves multi-partisan and try to recruit students accordingly, but Katie Cline says navigating today's politics is a challenge.

KATIE CLINE: I don't know. I'm definitely a little bit nervous about the current state of political polarization - like, I don't think that it's something that I see, like, going well moving forward.

SAVCHENKO: But Mineo says the entry of Kamala Harris into the presidential race is creating an opening for her generation to look at politics in a new way.

MINEO: For at least our generation, like, middle school, high school, college has all been almost, like, a Trump era. Since our whole political awakening, there's been someone representing one party, so I think seeing things shake up a little bit has been nice.

SAVCHENKO: She hopes the change will get more students involved in their group to discuss different viewpoints, especially as the elections near. After breakfast, the students split up and join different workshops - like this one, led by Ross Irwin of BridgeUSA, which is all about moderating difficult conversations.

ROSS IRWIN: Do you all have an example of a discussion that you wanted to do, but you were too scared to?

SAVCHENKO: Several students speak up. Their answers range from talks about abortion and gun rights to discussions about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, but Irwin says some BridgeUSA chapters across the nation were able to tackle the topic.

IRWIN: A third of our college chapters did Israel-Palestine discussions, and you know what they said? They said, that's one of the most intense discussions we've ever had, and we're glad we did it.

SAVCHENKO: Irwin's audience includes students from different states and with differing political views. He calls on them to set those views aside and focus on creating spaces for dialogue by sticking to the BridgeUSA guidelines - like not interrupting speakers, addressing statements, not people, and only speaking for themselves and not a group. This, Irwin tells them, should be their mission.

IRWIN: You're the hope to have these types of conversations on campus. If the BridgeUSA chapter can't do it, no one can do it, right? And I know it's scary, and I know it's tough, but I'm telling you, you're the last line of defense to allow people to have constructive, real conversations.

SAVCHENKO: On school campuses, that is - and the goal, he says, is not to reach an agreement or win an argument, but to listen to what others have to say and respect political differences. For NPR News, I'm Anna Savchenko, in Chicago.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEAR GARDEN SONG, "HEY YE YE YEAH (SLOW)")

MARTÍNEZ: Listening to what others have to say, respecting differences - that is what we do here each and every single day, and we're glad you're here along with us.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEAR GARDEN SONG, "HEY YE YE YEAH (SLOW)")

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