Welcome!
My name is Alec Chapa. I'm a graduate from Portland State's Conflict Resolution program, and I invite you to enter my senior capstone project, and perhaps the field of conflict resolution generally. I completed this capstone in the spring of 2019, and my personal motivation was simple: I could think of no better way to serve my community than to take all I had learned at Portland State and give it back to the very community I called home as an undergraduate. Now, more on the capstone project.
The Effective Change Agent capstone calls for students to contribute to three projects: an individual project, a group project, and a class project. For my individual work, I envisioned a locally focused initiative at Portland State University, aimed at investigating and offering insights to ameliorate tensions among the student population. Although most campus activities were rather peacefully coexistent, year after year there was a pattern of controversy between some groups of students. With striking contrast, the cultural and political perspectives and practices among these particular groups raised questions about whether or not they could coexist. It is bold for students or administration to even consider banning certain perspectives and activities; with some seriously considering these actions, it placed a significant strain on Portland State's unifying social fabric as a public university. What you will see here is on the one hand a deconstruction of this conflict in an attempt to consider how it might be addressed, and on the other hand, a public sphere for the conflict to move towards honesty and transparency. Once again, I invite you to explore the issue for yourself as you read on. |
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The strength of a nation depends on the integrity of the home -- Confucius
A Place for Diversity, Inclusion & Curiosity
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Campus Group Conflict:
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Who Are The Parties To The Conflict? |
Club: Freethinkers of Portland State
Much of the controversial activity on campus has a common factor: the Freethinkers club. The club has hosted various events serving as focal points for much of the campus controversy. These events are controversial due to the subject matter, who is being given a platform and the spotlight to speak, which is really a criticism of how the club spends its university-given funding. One criticism is that a public institution should not sponsor certain events and figures, even indirectly. As hosts, club members are clearly central to the activity, whether they mean to be provocative or not, and the events, which usually occur once per trimester, require a significant degree of the club's attention - a sure way to know the events closely align with the club's values.
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Potentially: Minority Student Populations
Those who protest against and take issue with the club and its events are rarely unified by a clear label. As the project development section below details, interviewing various members of the student population did reveal some telling clues regarding which students and student groups oppose the club activities. In particular, per the interviewee who wishes to stay anonymous, the club hosted an event fueled by the premise that "it was unnecessary and damaging [for the university] to provide space and resources to marginalized students." Though not explicitly stated, the student was likely referring to The New Campus Thought Police event. The foreseeable result of this would, of course, be push back from such marginalized student groups.
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The key is to be in the conflict, not of the conflict. |
How Might I Be of Service? |
How individuals choose to engage in their relationships can make all the difference. Just as combustion chambers orchestrate controlled reactions, energy that's directed and transformed to propel a vehicle, so it is that conflict can be transformed to deepen rather than weaken relationships and communities. When, in a moment of doubt, those we invest in also choose to reinvest in us, each person co-creates the commitment that gives life to the bond. Each decision to reinvest rather than abandon the relationship lays down another brick of solid foundation, paving the rich history of that bond.
My work here is investigating the facets of the conflict, asking: how can this conflict be effectively transformed, what might that require, and am I the appropriate effective change agent for the cause? Due to the complex and elongated history of this conflict, it's helpful to first investigate what's known, which in turn reveals better strategies for entering the dynamic. Importantly, I can only be a trusted and effective mediator when the parties give the mediation role permission to exist and effect change. With that said, prior investigation may reveal that mediation is not a viable option: perhaps the parties are interested in mediation, but through another party, or perhaps there isn't a mutual interest in overcoming the conflict, which successful mediation requires.
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The 21st century has generated entirely new challenges for communities, including universities, and the relationships they consist of. Online interactions pose unique challenges to building and maintaining cohesive relationships: echo chambers group people according to their coinciding beliefs and opinions, which discourages bridging our divides; social media platforms enable easily unfriending those we may have a conflict with. While these are just two powerful factors, communities face many challenges as living organisms, growing and changing through the relationships that make them up.
No matter the difficulty a relationship faces, abandonment and separation are rarely effective long term and robust resolution strategies to these natural challenges, especially if a community and its constituent relationships are to persist sustainably. Far from abandonment, I aim to offer a sense of pragmatic hope for communities and relationships undergoing strain. This means Portland State University. In these critical moments of doubt, and throughout the broader history of a conflict, surrounding individuals and parties can potentially insert themselves in the conflict for the better. Mediation is one strategy for conflict transformation: whether the parties seek the service out, or the invitation comes to them, each party can choose to engage in another way. Cooperating together, the mediator is receptive to the concerns of each side to a conflict; choosing to be inclusive rather than exclusive in their role, the mediator inserts themselves into the conflict, without being a part of the conflict.
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Project Developments: Results and Reflections
My Role's Limitations
The first clear limitations to my work are time and resources. Although some of my material had been collected prior to the Effective Change Agent capstone class, the majority of the work spanned a mere ten weeks. Additionally, I worked independently without a team and without the direct guidance of a professor, which limited the breadth and depth of the work. More significantly, it became increasingly clear that my position and role in the conflict dynamic impacted the work I could do, and the way I could do it. This is not surprising; after all, any person could (if they were so perniciously inclined) take it upon themselves to perform this investigation with the facade of a capstone, and with empty promises of confidentiality. It's impossible to know whether this was the narrative of anyone encountering me and my work - it is certainly a possibility, especially amidst the suspicion conflict encourages. With that being said, I did encounter a level of suspicion on several occasions. When requesting a follow up interview with a Freethinkers club member, the participant mentioned feeling uncomfortable not knowing "my side" on an issue, and never responded to further requests. Other encounters occurred along similar lines. Other students, such as those from marginalized populations, might have felt uneasy about sharing sensitive information with a person not sharing in that particular identity. This is similar to the point made above in "Points of Disconnection," except that the hesitation would be based not on my position and authority, but potentially on my demographic identity. |
Study Limitations & Explanations
The project revealed just how disproportionate participation was between groups, which left me with little basis for comparison. As further described in the interview and analysis below, five Freethinkers club members participated in interviews while only one non-member participated with a counterpoint view. With such a little basis, it was difficult to perform a conflict analysis, which normally consists of comparing between group experiences, versions of historical accounts, conflict-conditioned narratives, ideologies informing the conflict, and strategies for succeeding within the conflict. In the absence of a full conflict analysis, one hypothesis might help explain this participation discrepancy, though it cannot be verified without more evidence. Such discrepancy could be structural, resulting from the difference between marginalized and non-marginalized students, which is just one student population potentially involved in the conflict. As students with an inherent vulnerability, some foreseeable hesitation could discourage participation in such an investigation. To participate is to entrust sensitive information, and if students are going to entrust such information, they would be less likely to entrust it to an independent student rather than Portland State, which can offer reliable protection agreements. To this point, several attempts were made to reach out to reach such students, and a resource center for marginalized students, but no response was received. |
The Conflict's Focal Point
Based on the scope of this project, the fundamental disagreement concerns the nature of free speech policy. Students in the Freethinkers club appear to support free speech absolutism, the idea the speech should be absolutely free, without any limitations in any circumstances. This assertion is based on some sentiments gathered in interviews by members and nonmembers alike. One member mentioned notions of "campus thought police," and on the whole, the group features controversial figures in events often expecting push back. At the same time, the nonmember used the direct label of free speech absolutists. On the other hand, the dominant narrative at Portland State does not align with free speech absolutism. This is easy to see with the presence of dedicated resource centers around campus, including the Women's Resource Center, the Queer Resource Center, and the Disability Resource Center (Services and Resource Centers) and six cultural resource centers (Cultural Resource Centers). To my knowledge, Portland State does not have a comprehensive statement concerning the conditions for resource centers and other accommodating spaces. Such criteria could increase the clarity of policies and in turn, could help to alleviate the concerns of Freethinkers, thereby addressing the conflict as a whole. |
The Big Picture
Some threads in this Portland State conflict are also at work in conflicts developing across the nation. Debates about free speech on college campus are all but isolated to Portland State. PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to defending free expression in America, published a 2017 report documenting a rising number of hate crimes on college campuses centering around free speech issues. Portland State's Freethinkers club hosted a number of controversial events, including the 2018 event centered around the controversial former Google engineer James Damore, fired on account of perceived bigotry. This was followed ten months later with the publication of peer-reviewed hoax articles, written by a Portland State professor in cooperation with two other authors. The controversial professor has been closely affiliated with the Freethinkers club by both working one on one with members and by working in club events as anchor, including the James Damore event. Fast forward five months to March of 2019: President Trump appeared to publicly defend conservative students, a number of whom surrounded him as he signed an executive order protecting free speech on college campuses. It's not hard to see that since Portland State is a chapter in this larger conflict, President Trump's response to this applied to Portland State as well. It's not clear if the Freethinkers club and the hoax articles share a common cause, though the mutual support between the publishing professor and the club does suggest the possibility. What is clear is that they are no longer unrelated: what's happening among students at Portland State is connected with the hoax article professor, which is connected with national debates around free speech and academic integrity, though the nature of these relations is unknown. |
What Do Students Involved Say?
Read the full Freethinker's Club Controversy Interview & Analysis report below:
Read the full Freethinker's Club Controversy Interview & Analysis report below:
Conclusion: Pragmatic Hope Within Liminal Spaces
At the end of everything, this project is about demonstrating that it is possible to have relationships with those we disagree with, and that even when we disagree radically on critical issues we care deeply about, we are more likely to have our concerns heard and addressed through a working rather than dysfunctional relationship. In these tense and divided times, I wish to offer a sense of pragmatic hope by drawing on empirical research and putting it towards solutions that work, even if the solutions and relationships that emerge do not fit preconceived notions of what we thought they ought to be. I believe that liminal spaces, spaces for transition and transformation, where it's okay to not know from the onset and to experiment, are crucial parts of working towards better understandings and better relationships. Indeed, even throughout the course of struggling to come to a shared agreement, there can be a continued sense of expansive understanding. Engaging in this process of coming to understand each other is itself the habit of a healthier relationship. If the Portland State student groups are going to come a mutual agreement, it's going to begin by moving towards a mutual understanding, which I believe are going to begin in liminal spaces. Ultimately, expanding these liminal spaces equates to expanding the due process in the court of public opinion, which is the very oxygen a self-determined community needs for its vital conversations.
At the end of everything, this project is about demonstrating that it is possible to have relationships with those we disagree with, and that even when we disagree radically on critical issues we care deeply about, we are more likely to have our concerns heard and addressed through a working rather than dysfunctional relationship. In these tense and divided times, I wish to offer a sense of pragmatic hope by drawing on empirical research and putting it towards solutions that work, even if the solutions and relationships that emerge do not fit preconceived notions of what we thought they ought to be. I believe that liminal spaces, spaces for transition and transformation, where it's okay to not know from the onset and to experiment, are crucial parts of working towards better understandings and better relationships. Indeed, even throughout the course of struggling to come to a shared agreement, there can be a continued sense of expansive understanding. Engaging in this process of coming to understand each other is itself the habit of a healthier relationship. If the Portland State student groups are going to come a mutual agreement, it's going to begin by moving towards a mutual understanding, which I believe are going to begin in liminal spaces. Ultimately, expanding these liminal spaces equates to expanding the due process in the court of public opinion, which is the very oxygen a self-determined community needs for its vital conversations.
About Me
In pursuit of an education on his own terms, Alec Chapa moved to Astoria, Oregon in 2014 pursuing a private academic mentorship on subjects including philosophy, religion, education, politics, and writing. After graduating with honors from Astoria’s Clatsop Community College, he transferred to Portland State to complete a Bachelor of Science in Conflict Resolution. Since entering, much of his work in the program, this Effective Change Agent university capstone, and the prestigious McNair Research Program (see link below) has centered around America’s political polarization, the nature of entrenched conflict, and effective conflict management and resolution strategies. Since graduation, Alec has been finishing McNair research, and will pursue field experience in San Antonio as he prepares to enter a PhD program. He cares deeply about education, philosophy, and the power of relationships. In his off time, he loves cycling, camping, going to concerts and sharing philosophical conversations over coffee.
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Capstone Group Project:
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This page presents the works of Alec Chapa on his senior capstone project at Portland State University; This page reflects his work and his views, independent of the university.
All images used are either personally owned or were available to the public domain and were available for reuse.
All images used are either personally owned or were available to the public domain and were available for reuse.