Spotlight On: Sustained Dialogue
As Ohio State’s newest addition to the signature events line up, Community Week is designed to foster equity, community building and awareness across campus. From March 22 through 28, students are invited to join in conversations with student organizations that focus on learning and understanding issues within our community. We sat down with the co-chairs of the Sustained Dialogue student organization, Alex Hensley and Sarah Tibbitts, to learn more about their event and about Community Week 2020.
What are you studying?
Alex Hensley: I am a third-year majoring in both Public Affairs and City and Regional Planning. I’ve always been interested in politics, and when I came here horribly undecided as a high school senior, I loved the experiential learning that the John Glenn College provided. With planning, I had a lot of extra room in my schedule and it was a technical degree, so I decided to add it too.
Sarah Tibbitts: I am a fourth-year studying Public Affairs and Women’s Studies. I was impressed by Ohio State having its own school of public affairs, and it combined a lot of my interests at a hands-on level. I love being at a huge university while also being a part of a small college.
How are you involved on campus?
Alex: I am involved in Undergraduate Student Government, the president of Ignite within the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, a Glenn college ambassador, I sit on a few university committees and I help with campus organizing for voter registration.
Sarah: I have served as president of Sustained Dialogue for two years, I work at the John Glenn College and the Kirwan Institute, I am a member of Mount Scholars and I’m involved with Hillel.
How did you get involved with Sustained Dialogue?
Alex: I was looking to branch out with my involvements and a friend of a friend was involved with the org at the time. Sarah and I also had a class together that semester and we like to think the stars aligned. I was interested in social justice and politics, so finding this organization that combined the two has become one of my favorite parts of college.
Sarah: I was involved with a lot of social justice outreach programs in high school and looked to find something similar in college. I started almost immediately my freshman year, which is why I became president so early on. I got to work for the Sustained Dialogue headquarters in DC as well. I feel lucky that the work I did in high school was similar to the work I am doing now with racial justice, and to be able to continue it here is something I feel very grateful for.
Many people confuse debate versus dialogue. How do you explain the difference?
Alex: Dialogue is more about sharing experiences and understanding both sides versus “winning.” Our motto is “listen deeply enough to be changed by what you’ve heard.”
Can you explain a little bit about Community Week and the Police Dialogue event?
Community Week consists of a number of events that include organizations from across campus. The event began five years ago with solely the Police Dialogue event, which is a 300-person table dinner dialogue of students and police to share experiences that they may not have shared in our polarized world. It is essentially two police officers and eight students with a moderator sharing a space where “what’s said here stays here, what’s learned here leaves here.”
We hope the dialogue is a brave space where students and police alike can participate in productive and lesson-based discussions that can be applied in daily life and broaden perspectives. Police Dialogue focuses specifically on the issues surrounding race, policing and gun violence, while Community Week focuses on community building as a whole.
At its core, what do you believe is the purpose of Community Week?
Sarah: Equity, community building and awareness. Celebrating differences.
What do you want students to know about the Community Week?
Sarah: I want students to know that this week is open for everyone and we encourage everyone to come. You don’t have to be marginalized, you don’t need to be knowledgeable on the subjects we discuss, you just need to come with an open mind and a desire to learn.
Alex: We are looking to expand upon last year’s Community Week and focus in on a few different types of diversity, because we want this week to feel accessible and broaden horizons.
Community Week 2020 begins on March 22, 2020. All are welcome and encouraged to attend events. For a full list of events, visit the Sustained Dialogue Facebook page.
