Undiscussed is a student run organization that seeks to create open spaces for students to discuss questions surrounding identity on campus. Its stated mission is “breaking barriers and enabling change through dialogue.”

“I think opinions on campus are not as homogenous as people assume they are,” said Quinn Rhi ’15, one of the leaders of Undiscussed. “I like Undiscussed because in theory, it has a lot of potential to bridge gaps. It is valuable to learn to coexist with someone who may not have the same opinions as you do.”

Undiscussed has been a student run organization since 2008, when it was started as a student’s independent study. Alyssa Chen ’08 organized the group in order to examine social norms at Bowdoin. A discussion group was an effective way to get students involved in the conversation for her project.

“We hold deep assumptions and stereotypes about one another,” said Chen a 2008 Orient op-ed. “If we limit our interactions to people like ourselves, these stereotypes and assumptions will remain unquestioned and unchallenged. Only through meaningful discussion can we break these preconceptions and learn the complexity of each other.”

Last year’s program mainly focused on risk and comfort in relation to identity. This year’s program will shift and focus more on choices and identity. The three main questions for this year are: how do the choices we make affect our own identity? How are the choices that we make perceived by others? And how do these individual choices affect our community? 

At the Student Activities Fair last Friday, many students showed interest in the group—around 90 people, including current and new members, signed up for the spring term.

With Undiscussed, students participate in small group discussions for four weeks. Each group meets for an hour and a half every week, when students discuss question. The Steering Committee, a group of seven student leaders, organizes the 10 small discussion groups and chooses 20 facilitators who guide group discussions.

The facilitators are students who are chosen to help lead discussions and maintain a safe and open environment. 

“This year to pick out facilitators, we emailed a couple administrators and people involved on campus and got from two to five students who were recommended to us,” said Rhi. “We came up with our own list of people who we would like to see contribute and combined it with people nominated by an administrator to become a facilitator.”

Since the same group will stay together all four weeks, students will truly get to know the peers in their group and will have the time to explore the many aspects of identity, according to Rhi.

“The first day [of discussion] is about coming up with ground rules to ensure respect of one another,” said Rhi. “We will begin to talk about identity. You do not have to talk about one particular aspect of it. You can think about how your home or socioeconomic class can play into your identity, for example.”

When the official group discussions end after four weeks, facilitators and group members still have the chance to further share and discuss the topics they have been focussing on. Students who were not previously a part of Undiscussed can also become involved.

“After four weeks are over, we are thinking of putting together an optional presentation for people who are interested in hearing about what we were talking about in our smaller groups” said Rhi.

She added that especially in the wake of recent events in Ferguson, MO., and Staten Island, N.Y., Undiscussed is a good platform for students to talk and listen to one another about difficult, overlooked or avoided conversation topics.

 “Being more conscientious of how group discussions are facilitated has helped the way I view other people’s opinions and my placement in group settings," said Rhi.