Heterodox Academy hosts gathering at Linn-Benton Community College

by Ethan Birmingham

Great minds don't always think alike. 

This sentiment, which can be found prominently displayed on the website for the Heterodox Academy, reverberated soundly at the academy's campus community gathering and information session on Monday night at Chinook Hall in Corvallis. 

The event, organized by LBCC staff members Mark Urista and Rob Camp, aimed to inform attendees about the Heterodox Academy and the importance of viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement. 

"If you're open to the idea of challenging yourself on things that you believe," said Camp, the current manager of Student Life and Leadership at LBCC, "consistently, I think Heterodox will always teach you something new." 

Camp first learned about the Heterodox Academy through his work with the free expression team at LBCC. While researching policy surrounding free expression, the team discovered the small start-up group. 

"It’s a group that’s focused on being able to ask questions for things you don’t know or don’t agree with to help us learn to engage in conversation that’s not comfortable," said Camp. 

The Heterodox Academy is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization consisting of over 6,000 university students, staff, and faculty. One of the primary missions of Heterodox is to advance higher education by promoting open inquiry and ideological diversity. 

In 2022, LBCC was selected through a competitive process to be a member of the Heterodox Academy's inaugural campus community network. The network, which consists of 23 universities across the U.S. and Canada, seeks to inspire institutional change. 

However, LBCC's inclusion in the network gave the college a special distinction. A distinction Jason Dorsette, LBCC's executive director for Institutional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, proudly shared during Monday's meeting. 

"Today, while the Heterodox Academy campus community network has grown," said Dorsette, "LBCC is still the only community college in the network." 

Dorsette kicked off the night by addressing and welcoming the crowd. During the introduction, he announced that the Office of Institutional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion would be locked in step with the Heterodox Academy. 

"We believe in discourse. We believe in open dialogue. That’s what diversity is all about,” said Dorsette following the announcement. 

Throughout the night, guests mingled and conversed with one another on the importance of having difficult conversations. Members of LBCC's civil discourse program were in attendance, as well as a group of students from Chemeketa Community College. 

Co-organizers Urista and Camp walked from table to table, greeting everyone who had shown up and joining in on most conversations. 

Urista, a member of the communication faculty at LBCC, was the first person from LBCC to join the Heterodox Academy. Urista discovered the organization after reading an article in the Atlantic Monthly written by Jonathan Haidt, the creator of Heterodox Academy. 

"Because it resonated with me," said Urista, "it made me want to learn more about the author and the work that they did." 

Part of Urista's fondness for the Heterodox Academy comes from the similarity between the organization's mission and his experience as a college student. Urista posed the following questions for students interested in learning more: 

"Do you think it’s important to interact with people who think differently than you do?" 

"Would you like understanding why somebody has a perspective that is totally different than yours?"

"If so, get involved with the Heterodox Academy.”