Students Prioritize Facts Over Partisanship to Advance Policy Solutions

“I’m trying to be more aware of thinking, ‘I’m not telling you this because I want to make you think the way I do,” said Magaw, a second-year student studying public management, leadership and policy at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. “It’s just that people want to be heard and feel safe in their opinions. Obviously that doesn’t apply to intolerance if someone’s being hateful, but civil discourse, if we think about it as hearing people out rather than trying to change opinions, it’s definitely the way to go about it.”

A pre-law student who expects to earn her Master of Public Administration in 2028, she wants to work on Capitol Hill for the federal government or in state government. 

She and seven other Ohio State students are learning about civil discourse as ambassadors of a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called Free the Facts, which empowers young Americans to learn and lead by providing reliable, nonpartisan information about complex policy issues and teaching them skills they need to form their own opinions, advance policy solutions and meaningfully participate in the national debate about our country’s biggest challenges.

Ohio State also highlights civil discourse through its Listen. Learn. Discuss. initiative, which includes programs, coursework and resources that help Buckeyes productively share different perspectives, build trust with one another and clearly articulate their point of view.

“It’s uncomfortable having conversations with people not on the same side of the aisle or even having the same policy ideas as you, but it’s something that’s so important. Everything is in such a gridlock right now. Free the Facts feels like it’s laying the foundation for something to get done,” Magaw said.

Free the Facts doesn’t recommend policy solutions; instead, it explains the facts to students and encourages them to look into solutions themselves. An independent panel of researchers and policy experts, half Democrat and half Republican, helps students understand policy issues such as Social Security, the federal budget and Medicare.

“The bias isn’t partisan; the bias is generational where we’re trying to focus. A lot of the conversation is us being empowered to go out and talk to our peers,” said Alan Mathew, another Free the Facts ambassador and a fourth-year Glenn College student earning a BS in Public Policy Analysis and Economics, with a minor in statistics. “I’m not some 40-year-old policy wonk who hasn’t talked to a college kid in ages. I’m a college kid, and I’m interested in these issues.”

“Politics can be evil sometimes, but at the end of the day we all have ideas of different ways to do it. I take that as fact that people are going to disagree, and there’s only so much we can do given the resources we have, but you have to be able to bring people to the table,” Mathew said. 

Magaw incorporates what she learns from Free the Facts with discussions in the John Glenn Civic Leadership Community — a living-learning community for all students who aspire to make a difference in the world and have an interest in public policy, politics, civic engagement, leadership and service — and with lessons in the classroom. In one, taught by instructor Joseph Henry, the students were assigned identities and instructed to approach a policy problem from the point of view of those identities. 

“If you’re a CEO of a transnational organization, it’s very different than coming at it as a single mother. Even if it didn’t change anyone’s mind, it could still change the way they think. It was an interesting way to rethink policy issues that you thought you had a strong stance on,” she said.

“I think about the value of having a diversity of experiences and diversity of perspectives,” Mathew said. “No matter how confident I am of a proposal I see as an issue, I’m always aware there’s probably a better solution, and I don’t know where that will come from. Maybe it will come from a coffee I have with someone who disagrees with me.

“Decisions are made by people who show up. Before you show up, you want to understand what you’re showing up for,” Mathew said, explaining how Free the Facts helps him see the basic information behind policy issues. “If you show up with just your very specific view of the world, you’re going to butt heads with someone who doesn’t agree. If you’re not prepared for that, in the worst case no progress happens, but if you are prepared for that, you’re more likely to be able to build something for positive change.”