Southern Miss is hosting the Unify Challenge to promote civil dialogue among students from Feb. 24 to 26 and March 3 to 6.
The Unify Challenge is a virtual, guided video conversation designed to connect Americans who hold different political views or come from diverse backgrounds. It will connect Southern Miss students to students from a different university with a different outlook on life and a different perspective on different trending topics.
During registration, students answer demographic and political identity questions. A matching algorithm then pairs them with a student from a different school who likely holds opposing viewpoints or comes from a different geographical background. While the conversations are intended to last for an hour, they are also allowed to, and sometimes do, last for over the allotted time. They work through a digital survey containing 15–20 statement prompts on topics such as mental health, gun laws, immigration, and the economy.
The program aims to facilitate respectful dialogue, helping students move beyond their social bubbles to discover common ground and practice essential civic leadership skills. The program emphasizes conversation and not debate to help students understand one another.
Southern Miss students will be participating in the program to encourage healthy conversations to understand other people better, while being able to articulate their own points better.
“Students can sign up for a one-hour slot to meet up with a student of a different university with a different background,” said Christy Kayser, the director of the Center for Community Engagement. “There are lots of guard rails built in to remind students that this exercise is about understanding different people’s perspectives.”
Kayser also added that the event has options to leave the chat or report conversations to keep the environment respectful. She added that there are some conversations that do not have a right answer, and events like these are important to be able to understand one another about national issues and learn to compromise. She stated that the event is supposed to be the opposite of a debate.
The event has been integrated into different coursework to encourage students to participate. This semester, students taking American Government are required to take part in the event as part of their assignment. Last semester, the event was integrated into the introductory Luckyday course. Kayser emphasized that students do not have to be a part of any class to be able to participate and that any student is welcome is attend.
The goal of the program is to help students see each other better by exposing them to diverse perspectives. Kayser added that a lot of high-profile conflict comes from people not agreeing and causes dire consequences. She added that people still need to see each other as people and understand that other people have reasons to feel the way they do.
“This initiative would lead to students understanding each other’s perspectives and sharing a common reality,” said Nobel Paudel, a political science major. “This idea is certainly interesting, and i would love to see how it turns out.”
