The state of open conversation at the University of Portland (UP) was the focus of the discussion, “Is Conversation Over? The Students’ Perspective,” held on Nov. 20 in Dundon-Berchtold Hall. Members of the UP community gathered to hear from six panelists and student leaders as they shared their thoughts on the capacity for open conversation to thrive at UP and beyond.
The panel discussion was organized by English professor and director of Public Research Fellows, Jen McDaneld, who also facilitated the event.
The panelists included President of Bridge UP Emma Beadle, President of Young Americans for Freedom Peyton Chen, Treasurer of the International Club Meng Srean Pheakdey, President of Philosophy Club Cadence Robertson, Anchor Seminar Leader Tait Vigeland and Senior Editor of Writers Magazine Valencya Valdez.
Here are the key takeaways from the discussion:
Panelists reflect on the difficulties of communicating online.
The panelists began by sharing the role of conversation in their organization. Each panelist shared similar sentiments about the overall purpose being an attempt to create a space for open and honest conversation, regardless of the topic. After they each shared about their group, McDaneld prompted the panelists to share their perspective on online conversation.
“You really lose the empathetic aspect of it [conversation],” Robertson said. “When you engage with something online you kind of are implicitly endorsing it because it promotes it in the algorithm. And I think you don't have to consider that kind of responsibility when you're interacting with someone face to face.”
Chen agreed with the responsibility that people often dismiss when conversing online, specifically highlighting this issue when it comes to politics.
“I would say that conversations online are rarely productive when it comes to the topic of politics,” Chen said. “In person, there's this social norm of like, you know, you have to be polite and you have to be cordial in some way. But then online there's not any like, there's no enforcement of that and the consequences feel distant for that, so people are more likely to be very aggressive.”
The other five panelists agreed, sharing that online communication lacks empathy and, oftentimes, meaning.
“People are much braver behind the screen, much braver,” Vigeland said. “But it really does depend on what your intention is going into it, and what you're looking for with that online interaction because there are some people who have really negative intents and do just want to argue, and then there are folks who are interested in a conversation, but it's much harder to gauge when you don't have the nonverbal cues.”
Pheakdey emphasized the importance of nonverbal cues, especially as English is her second language, noting how easily messages can be misinterpreted through text.
“When I text people, I love to say ‘Oh hello’ with an exclamation mark," Pheakdey said. “And some people just take it wrong. So I would say talking with people face to face just really shows who you are more than, you know, like texting online, because people can take it wrong.”
Panelists respond to concerns that classroom engagement is decreasing.
With those concerns in mind, McDaneld prompted the panelists to reflect on why student participation in class has decreased, an observation from herself and other colleagues.
“What I noticed was the difference when I started teaching to now,” Mcdaneld said. “It used to be like everyone was talking, and now they're very much in their own worlds.”
The panelists agreed that classroom conversation has shifted dramatically over the last few years, crediting the fast pace of society, social anxiety and fear as some of the leading causes.
“We're always feeling busy and always having homework and always needing to answer emails,” Vigeland said. “Every second we get, even if it's just two minutes before class, I feel like I have to be doing something more, like checking something, so I feel like that's obviously a societal issue.”
Pheakdey and several other panelists credit the main cause of this shift to technology and the comfort and dependence students have found behind their screens.
“You might feel connected to people online, so you express yourself too much into the technology world, but we lack the social interaction, where we are there to speak it out,” Pheakdey said. “So when it comes to you wanting to speak what you want to say in front of like 20 people in the class, it is so hard to just get it out.”
Other panelists stressed how true they felt this statement was, bringing attention to the modern lack of capacity for conversation due to technology.
“Technology fills a void,” Beadle said. “Whenever there's a void of other conflict or spaces to have conversations, then technology kind of takes over, I think it's also one of those things that just kind of satiates that anxiety and fills that void when there's no conversation or there's not something before class.”
Robertson agreed with Beadle's statement, noting that it felt especially relevant during the pandemic. She explained that the sudden shift to technology during COVID-19 played a crucial role in the current dependence, highlighting that the “low risk” of technology creates this sense of comfort.
Valdez pointed out that unplugging is harder than it seems, as it's so ingrained in our daily life and society.
“I think it's easy to say, it's easy to walk away from your phone, to turn it off when it's really not,” Valdez said. “I think it's going to get harder if anything, and I think it will become more of a crutch than it already is, unfortunately.”
Panelists discuss how the dependency on technology has shifted the conversation on campus.
Acknowledging the challenges technology has introduced to communication in general, McDaneld concluded the discussion by asking the panelists to share their perspectives on what communication at UP looks like today.
“I think that people really want to have conversations and are dying to have conversations,” Beadle said. “But they don't have the spaces, or are not accessing spaces to have those conversations.”
Vigeland agreed, stating that not only is space important, but so is the topic, mentioning the election as one topic that has recently sparked conversation on campus.
“Everybody here has a buy-in to that [the election], because it's directly affecting us, so it's a lot easier to talk about it, whereas it's probably more difficult to talk about things that don't directly affect you,” Vigeland said. “So I think it's almost like you have to create these perfect conditions to entice people.”
Other panelists agreed with that point and shared how they are recognizing an obvious sense of fear on campus, from students of all political ideologies.
“It does feel like, with the nature of a small Catholic University, a lot of people feel like you're constantly looking over your shoulder when you are having conversations,” Valdez said.
Chen followed up Valdez’s point by sharing how many members of his group feel a sense of fear when it comes to sharing opinions on campus.
“The people that I know are very afraid to speak out,” Chen said. ‘It's everywhere online now, in terms of what can happen to people — it's usually high profile people, but it doesn't stop people who are just students being like, what if this affects my relationships with people, or with my professor, or what if I am kicked out of university”.
Dr. Anne Santiago, who was in attendance during the event, raised a question in response to this fear. She questioned who they were feeling this fear from, and how faculty could work harder to make classrooms a more welcoming environment for all ideologies.
In response to Santiago, panelists brought the conversation back to technology, and the undermining forces it has implicated on communication in general.
“There's always this weird sense of consequence at the end of something,” Valdez said. “What if someone hears me? What if someone misinterprets what I'm saying? I think that's a big social fear, especially as a generation that is more comfortable online — or at least more familiar with it. Having the anxiety or fear attached to in-person interactions, it feels a lot more weighted. You can't just back away and close your laptop. I do think as well that fear is also kind of the state of conversation in most places, not just on our campus right now.”
Netty Jurriaans is the Community Engagement Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at jurriaan25@up.edu.
