Lessons on how to coexist

The goal is to do away with all the ideologies.

Forget the fact that the person sitting next to you is your polar opposite when it comes to matters of politics and faith. Try, if you can, to just have a conversation about sports or movies, to seek common ground and to view each other without the lens of judgment.

Last month, about a dozen Gonzaga University students made an attempt to put their differences aside through “Know Your Neighbor,” a program designed by a new organization on campus known as Coexist.

“The whole goal of the project was not that we would be best friends and change each other’s ideas and values. This isn’t about singing ‘Cumbaya’ and holding hands,” said Anna Gonzales, Coexist’s adviser and the student activities coordinator at Gonzaga. “We wanted to create dialogue – respectful dialogue. We wanted to have conversations without resorting to the divisive tactics of the past.”

So for about half an hour, people who normally would argue about abortion, gay and lesbian issues and other hot-button topics, sat down and talked about travel, football, rap music and other interests. Instead of approaching each other as though they were going into battle, participants let their guard down and simply listened to the other person speak.

“We hope not to end the debates and discussions that characterize university life, but to encourage those debating to become friends, to understand the opposing points of view not as mere ideologies, but as the expressions of the lives and experience of other people,” according to Coexist’s mission statement.

To sow the seeds for future conversation and collaboration, Coexist members have organized a lecture Monday delivered by Jim Wallis, a Christian writer, social justice activist and author of the best-selling book, “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.”

Wallis, who also is the founder and editor of Sojourners Magazine, will talk about how people from opposing viewpoints can work together to change the world.

Like others at the Jesuit university, Gonzales became concerned over the growing tensions between certain clubs and organizations on campus. She and others were especially troubled by the conflict that grew out of several incidents in recent years – a controversial speech sponsored by the College Republicans in which the speaker expressed what was perceived by some as anti-gay sentiment; a rights protest on Ash Wednesday that offended some members of the John Paul II Society; the homophobic chants during a Gonzaga basketball game that were televised nationally on ESPN.

“Why can’t we all just get along? Why does it have to resort to name-calling?” several students asked Gonzales, who is completing a master’s degree in organizational leadership. As she spoke to other groups on campus, she learned that every one of them “felt that they were marginalized … that the other side had power and privilege and they had none.”

Together with Gonzaga sophomore Chris Sparks, Gonzales put together a proposal for an organization that would bridge the growing divide between students with opposing ideologies. They talked to members of the College Republican, Young Democrats, Right to Life, Women’s Studies, Helping Educate Regarding Orientation, John Paul II Society and other groups to get their ideas. From these conversations, the Coexist Student Coalition was born.

In the past few months, the organization has put together several programs including “Know Your Neighbor” and several “fishbowl” sessions, in which members of various clubs gather – not to debate, but just listen.

Wallis’ presentation on Monday, which is expected to draw hundreds of people from campus and beyond, is Coexist’s biggest endeavor yet. In order to bring the popular author to campus, Gonzales and others approached several departments on campus and other groups to raise the $15,000 speaker’s fee. Coexist hopes to establish a series of lectures and forums next year.

“With good faith and effort from all sides, this may work,” Sparks and Gonzales wrote in their proposal to the administration. “Coexist may live up to its name and prepare the way for the necessary detachment for a true exchange of views and stories in the future.”