On Oct. 7, BridgeND held the kickoff for their signature event, ConvergeND. BridgeND is the Notre Dame branch of BridgeUSA, a student-led organization focused on bridging the political divide and encouraging spectrum-crossing conversations. ConvergeND participants are matched with a discussion partner who has opposite political views after taking a survey, then given the opportunity to attend a kickoff event and meet for a conversation with their match.
According to senior Olivia Hrivnak, BridgeND’s co-director for campus and student engagement, the club has been hosting ConvergeND for the past seven years, beginning with 10 or 15 participants and growing to over 60 this year.
Hrivnak’s job is to encourage students to participate in the event. Because of this, she works to ensure the board is creating the most collaborative and inclusive environment possible.
“I do think that it’s a daunting thing to talk to someone that you’ve never met about your opposing view,” she said.
Freshman Caoilinn Flinn decided to participate in ConvergeND after getting involved with BridgeND.
“I just really love the mission of multi-partisan cooperation and communication,” Flinn said. “I love the idea of talking about politics in a way that’s actually constructive and considers lots of perspectives.”
Back home, Flinn said she never saw open, non-argumentative dialogue.
“I have experience[d] being around people with different beliefs, but I have never been in a circumstance where this kind of dialogue was available," she added.
Freshman Grace Fuchs signed up for ConvergeND right after the vice presidential debate.
“I thought it would be cool to meet someone from the other side. Coming from St. Louis, which is relatively liberal, and then being at Notre Dame … I knew it would be interesting to have an opportunity to hear the different perspectives,” said Fuchs.
Fuchs noted that Notre Dame’s political landscape lends itself well to this event. “The hyper-polarization is not as stark, it’s not like you have two camps. Everyone’s willing to talk to everyone, even if there are very different viewpoints which exist on this campus, they’re taken with a lens of respect,” she said.
At the kickoff event, ConvergeND participants listened to speeches by political science professor and director of the Notre Dame democracy initiative David Campbell and former ambassador Joe Donnelly. They also played a game in which they moved to different areas of the room along a scale based on their feelings towards an issue.
“Going to the event and being in that space is a great way to break the ice and begin talking about these things,” Hrivnak said.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it, I did a lot more listening than talking because people had such good points and they were very articulate. I learned a lot from them,” Flinn said, happy to have attended the event.
Hrivnak said it's rare for the club to receive enough sign-ups with views across the political spectrum for everyone’s match to have views completely opposite than theirs. Rather, most partners agree on certain things and disagree on others.
“My partner and I actually ended up having a lot more agreements than disagreements. We are both very Catholic, and we draw on that a lot for our political views,” Flinn said.
She and her partner discussed how the different approaches they had taken with their beliefs resulted in their differing opinions.
“We also talked a lot about how we hate the lack of nuance in politics and how divisive it is. We also discussed the effect of third parties on elections, and how we navigate separation of church and state while using religion to inform our political beliefs,” said Flinn.
Fuchs said her conversation went well, emphasizing her and her partner’s efforts to listen to each other and map out their reasoning.
“If you understand their background and framing, but you still disagree, then you can form your judgment,” said Fuchs.
Fuchs’ biggest takeaway from the event was that “opposite sides of the political spectrum can still have healthy conversations and respect one another, even in a very hyperpolarized world,” something she hopes to help others understand.
For Flinn, the experience reaffirmed her commitment to asking questions. She finds it fulfilling to “start to talk to people and ask them why they think the way they think. It’s usually a personal experience, so asking is a very educational and really fun experience.”
BridgeND is in the process of sending out a survey for this year’s participants, but, according to Hrivnak, the club always receives overwhelmingly positive feedback.
“People are always kind of surprised by how less scary it is than it might seem. A lot of us are used to talking to people that we agree with, and with ConvergeND, there are so many opportunities to learn something, grow, and move forward rather than staying in the same space,” said Hrivnak.
