New ONU class teaches students to craft change

Students at Ohio Northern University this fall will learn how to craft — and deliver — communication to change the world. Bryan Lutz, Ph.D., assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, will teach the new course, Writing for Advocacy and Activism. The class is inspired in part by contemporary social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, along with historic movements such as those that championed sexual freedom and women's suffrage. Students will learn about the history of social justice movements and practice the kinds of writing used by movement advocates and activists. They also will explore the works associated with advocacy and activism, such as chants, policy briefs, flyers, press releases and social media posts. Rather than supporting particular movement stances, students will focus on the practical and rhetorical methods that movements use to impact society, an ONU press release states. "There's so much debate over the age-old sins of this country when it comes to racism, sexism and where those intersect with policing and such," Lutz said in the press release. "Those debates have been raging ever since the Civil Rights movement's inception and long before that. But it's also about asking what are the most appropriate ways to engage with systems of power and trying to change them." Lutz, in an interview with The Courier, said as a scholar of rhetoric and composition he has always been interested in communication produced by social movements. When he was a student of rhetoric, one of his professors got him thinking about how women, during the suffrage movement, were able to "verbally wrestle away power" and earn the right to vote. Students in Lutz' class will learn the history of social movements including the civil rights movement, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. They'll also learn the difference between an advocate and an activist. Lutz explained that an activist is usually someone who is part of a marginalized group, someone who is not in power, and, often, someone who tends to "distrust institutions." They may not necessarily be the person espousing a particular solution, but they're trying to draw attention to a problem. And they don't feel "they have to be polite about it," he said — rather, the discourse has an urgency to it, like someone screaming "Help!" An advocate, by contrast, is more likely to be an institution, such as Amnesty International. An advocate's philosophy tends to be different, and they are more willing to compromise, to give and take, Lutz said. He said there's an interest in activism and advocacy among ONU students, but some may be "reticent," seeing divisions in society. And they have seen so many movements, including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and most recently, people arguing over whether to wear masks during the pandemic. Students are trying to figure out how to make sense of "all these adults screaming at each other," he said. A typical default reaction for younger people, Lutz said, is to not discuss controversial topics with their peers. "There's the polarization viewpoint of, 'I don't want to fight with my other classmates. I don't want to find out who disagrees with me on this issue. I don't want the classroom space to become perhaps like the same degree of unrest happening among the punditry or even on the street.'" The Writing for Advocacy and Activism course will instead require discourse, the press release states. Participants will use research and discussion to critically examine perceptions about movements and their leaders and influencers from a variety of angles. Lutz said he feels the class can help benefit students who plan a range of writing-related careers. If they plan to go into journalism, or writing for a business, it will still help to learn about advocacy-related writing, he said. His hope is that they also "smarter media consumers." As well as learning how to craft words, students in Lutz' class will also learn the mechanics of speaking. They'll learn, for example, how to use their diaphragm, so they don't go hoarse — something that might otherwise be associated with a music class. And, he said, the class will discuss how to chant with a crowd. "One of the assignments will be an activist chant," Lutz said. "I would like the students to get the opportunity to read about how chants are used in activist groups, how the language is chosen, how the melodies tend to borrow from other melodies. ... There's a degree of rhyme and meter to it. The assignment will culminate in us coming up with our own activist chants about things we care about. This is the lesson I'm most excited about for the way it'll get students engaged." He said he was at a protest once where many of the people seemed not to understand the words they were supposed to be chanting, and were "mumbling along." So, students will also learn about teaching chants. Lutz said students will examine original sources, such as hearing from the creators of the Black Lives Matter movement, as opposed to the media representations of their remarks. They'll also hear from Native American activists who have "very poignant critiques" on how the United States uses its lands, he said. He said the country is in a sense at a "reckoning," with people realizing things aren't working well for everybody, and wanting to speak out about that. "I think there's a real hunger" to solve these problems, he said. Arthurs: 419-427-8494