“I can’t think of anything more important than improving civility in our nation,” said English and journalism lecturer Carol Costello.
This idea was the genesis for her new course, “Project Citizen: Discovering America,” which takes students from two regions of the country and instructs them together. The six-week course challenged students from LMU and Kent State University in Ohio to discuss political differences and stereotypes, and recognize how they can quickly divide our country.
Costello is an award-winning journalist and former anchor and correspondent at CNN and HLN. Having interviewed former presidents from both sides of the aisle and conducted scores of in-depth reporting on a variety of hot-button topics, she understands that through conversation we can better understand our differences.
The course took students from their respective universities to the others’ campus for three weeks each. “It’s important for students to be in a different physical space, to see the environment for themselves,” said Costello. “When a student studies abroad, they know it’s going to be different. I don’t think they think the same thing is true about America.”