By Peggy Kuhr
More than a year after Hurricane Katrina, students in Kansas were still eager to talk about it. So, when we held a student conversation on Sept. 28, 2006, called “Hurricane Katrina One Year Later: what have we learned from news media coverage?” we learned an additional lesson.
We learned that young people are hungry to talk about the news media, and about events and issues in the news, and they want to talk in settings that lend themselves to conversation, not to polarizing debate.
With all the advances in technology, there’s still a place for face-to-face conversation. There’s still a need for formatted discussion, where there are ground rules to let everyone have a say and explore their thoughts without being cast in one camp or another.
A symposium on a college campus is an ideal way to do that. Our Katrina conversation included 28 students from the University of Kansas. About half of them either were from the Gulf coast or had gone there after the hurricane to help out. They wanted to talk; and for many, 90 minutes wasn’t enough time.
"I’m impressed that you would hold something like this," said one student, who was from New Orleans. "It’s good that people are still talking about it."
What are people talking about on your campus or in your town? Here's how to plan and execute a campus conversation.