Utah State University events to encourage 'healthy conflict'

LOGAN — While a series of events, focused on healthy conflict at Utah State University, may seem like a response to the recent murder of Charlie Kirk, organizers said it was all planned months in advance. Still, they are hopeful people will be receptive to opportunities to disagree better. On Wednesday, starting at 4:30 p.m., USU's Heravi Peace Institute will host a discussion centered on A Braver Campus Dialogue inside the President's Hall of the David B. Haight Center. "What we try to do is be proactive with giving students the character traits, theories and tools for navigating conflict as opposed to being reactive," Heravi Peace Institute Director, Austin Knuppe said.The discussion will be led by the national College Debates and Discourse Alliance. Associate Director, Sadie Webb, said the timing of the recent murder of Charlie Kirk highlights the importance of proactive, positive discourse with people and groups that may have opposing views. "If we wait until something horrible happens to come together and navigate it, the likelihood of it happening again will only increase," Webb explained. "We need to create spaces and a culture that really embraces having these hard conversations before they escalate to violence." A complete list of USU's events focused on healthy conflict can be found here. In the meantime, the USU extension offers a set of online resources aimed at helping families disagree better.

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