Sparking dialogue about social issues is something that’s very important to me, especially when I enter into a new environment. Knowing how well the people around me are handling controversial topics and ideas always helps me feel more comfortable when I’m entering a new school, club, or really any type of social setting.

This past Saturday Colorado Mesa University (CMU) held MavNation, a required orientation activity for incoming freshman. Much of MavNation was helpful and informative, especially the “four corners” game, where the leaders held up a variety of signs that we could choose to go to base on our interests. 

That activity gave us a chance to learn about resources that would be beneficial to us as individuals, which was very helpful in my opinion. The last part of MavNation was really fun and a great way to make friends, because of all the activities and games that were available to us. These included a dunk tank, a game of Twister in a bouncy house, along with food, a movie night and other activities. Overall, I thought that MavNation was helpful and engaging. However, there was just one part of the evening that didn’t sit right with me. 

After a seminar on safety and campus resources, we were split into smaller groups and led out to the practice football field where there were a few signs stuck into the grass. Each of these signs had labels such as “Race,” “Gender Identity,” “Sexual Identity,” “Religion,” and “Politics.” Everyone was given three post-it notes, and we were instructed to write down one word for each individual sign. Afterwards, we were given the opportunity to discuss our answers. 

I thought that the activity came across as really thoughtless, both in the actual concept but also in the participants’ reactions. Many of the people I participated with seemed indifferent to the idea of sparking dialogue about sensitive topics. It felt like many students were trying to rush through the activity rather than thinking it through and coming up with something unique. 

The discussions we had afterward were very dry because nobody really knew what to say. This was kind of disappointing, especially because many of the prevalent social issues brought up are things that are more than likely to surface throughout the coming school year. As a student, it’d really put me at ease to see at least some effort going into building genuine dialogue about the significant social issues that affect us all.  But I can forgive the participants’ nonchalant attitudes mainly because the format of the activity itself didn’t exactly encourage meaningful participation. 

I understand the goal of the activity, and I really admire the intent behind it, but I don’t believe that such a structured and systematic approach works for discussing topics that are so complex. I also don’t think that the freshmen were given enough to talk about; all we really did was stick post it notes onto signs. 

It’s almost like the activity was simply trying to fulfill a requirement by establishing the fact that CMU is a campus that accepts a wide variety of students who come from a broad array of social standpoints. All of that is wonderful, but I just wish that mentality would have been present throughout the activity. It didn’t feel very genuine and meaningful. It’s extremely difficult to spark an authentic conversation, or really any conversation, when you’re in too much of a structured setting. Unfortunately, I don’t think MavNation provided very good grounds for dialogue to grow. 

I don’t think my classmates are indifferent about social issues. I believe that having interesting discussions about these important topics is something that we all would probably enjoy, therefore the format of the activity itself was probably the thing at fault for the lack of actual dialogue. 

When sensitive topics are made to be simpler than what they are, like they were during MavNation, we become desensitized to them and forget to actually think about them. In order to produce more honest and productive conversation, MavNation should probably look into a less simplified activity. 

It would be extremely beneficial for us as freshmen to have a platform during MavNation to talk about what we would like to see on campus in terms of diversity and acceptance, rather than simply being instructed to complete an activity that didn’t require a lot of thought and effort. 

Maybe a more discussion-based approach would do the trick, or maybe even breaking us up into small groups and giving us the freedom to talk about issues that affect us personally would help incoming freshmen feel more comfortable on campus.