Roosevelt University wants calm talk on hot issues

Roosevelt University is hoping to provide a forum for people to share their differing views on various national and global issues in a way that is mutually educational rather than divisive.

These ads — asking thought-provoking questions about topics including guns, gay marriage, health care. education reform and undocumented workers — began running online and in print Monday and will soon begin showing up in many public places including on buses and trains.

All of the eye-catching ads direct viewers to the forum at Roosevelt.edu/speakyourmind for them to comment on these controversial issues and gain insight into the views of others.

The images are intended to be provocative without being offensive. They include two wedding-cake brides on the gay marriage ad and a foot with a morgue tag on the toe in the ad asking whether fewer people would get shot if more people owned guns.

The online forum goes to the heart of Roosevelt University’s mission to be open and inclusive of all points of view, said Lesley Slavitt, Roosevelt’s vice president for government relations and university outreach.

Roosevelt University, which today has 7,300 students based at campuses in both Schaumburg and Chicago, began in 1945 as an institution that broke the racial and religious restrictive covenants that were in place for higher education at that time, Slavitt said.

Even anonymous comments on the forum are expected to adhere to the university’s honor code of being in good taste; those which don’t will not be viewable, Slavitt said.

The campaign is in its early stages and the university remains flexible on exactly how long it will run and what uses the viewpoints shared on the comment board will be put to in classroom discussion and other societal research, she said.