USU to Host Week of Conversation Around Practicing Healthy Conflict

Utah State University will host a week of events from Sept. 23-25 designed to help the campus community navigate differences with respect and build skills in dialogue, peacebuilding and free expression.

“Universities must be places to openly and respectfully explore a vast span of ideas,” said USU Interim President Alan L. Smith. “By drawing on the strengths of our own faculty, staff and students, USU is creating opportunities for our community to listen, think critically and learn from one another in ways that strengthen both respect and understanding.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, USU’s Heravi Peace Institute will host the national College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance in the President’s Hall of the David B. Haight Center from 4:30 to 6 p.m. for A Braver Campus Dialogue. The immersive, student-focused dialogue will explore how communities can engage across differences with respect and empathy and will feature Sadie Webb, associate director of the CD&D Alliance.

How to End a War: A Conversation With Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee will be from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Eccles Conference Center. Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist and women’s rights advocate, led a coalition of Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that helped end Liberia’s civil war in 2003. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and continues her global advocacy through the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa.

She will join Patrick Mason, Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, for a moderated conversation on the role of women and faith communities in building peace, followed by an audience Q&A. The event is free and open to the public and can also be joined via Zoom.

USU Blanding will also host its annual Weaving Our Stories conference Sept. 23-25 at the Blanding Arts & Events Center. Part of the Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) program, the gathering brings together students, faculty, staff and community members to support, celebrate and engage with Native American students and communities across the USU system.

This week, Sept. 15-18, will also feature daily tabling events on the walkway in front of the Taggart Student Center to provide students space for conversation and training around practicing healthy conflict. Students will have the opportunity to engage with faculty and experts from the Heravi Peace Institute and Conversational Space Makers, the CARE Team, the Department of Social Work’s I-Systems Institute, and CAPS.

Additional details for all events are listed on the USU Events Calendar.