It may seem old fashioned, but Mississippi State University’s Writing Center’s new letter writing project wants students to start writing letters again.
The “Open Letter Project” encourages students to write anonymous letters to other students. 
Students who participate in the project respond to the“Dear Other Side of the Fence” prompt, in which students write about what they want others to know about themselves and their experiences.
Students can write on anything from gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion, politics and beyond.
Antoinette Hayden, a lecturer in MSU’s English department who started the project, took her idea to the Writing Center’s director, Kayleigh Few. 
Few liked her idea and approved it. Afterwards, Hayden typed up a proposal which the two refined together. Few said her role with the project is to help Hayden in whatever way she can to make it work. 
So far, Hayden and Few have received a lot of interesting responses. Some of the letters submitted to the project have been calm, while others are filled with intensity.
Few describes the letters submitted by students as “very personal,” but also unique. Letters range from topics about sexual identity, eating disorders, religion and more.
“Most of them are specific to an issue or struggle that the person writing it is going through,” Few said.  
Overall, Few said she has been impressed with the letters submitted and the number of submissions they have received. She said the Writing Center’s contest offering gift cards gives students incentive to participate.
Few said this is the first time the Writing Center has done a project like this and did not know how others would react.
The support and response the project has received across MSU’s campus has been positive, especially from those in the sociology and education departments.
Stephanie Bennett, assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Special Education, teaches a middle level literacy writing intensive class which prepares students for teaching fourth through eighth grade.
In the class Bennett teaches, students focus on narrative, informational, argument and opinion writing. Additionally, the class teaches how to effectively communicate through writing.
Bennett said after seeing the email detailing the project, she knew the it would work nicely with the things her students had learned in class.
“I thought it was a neat assignment,” Bennett said. “It’s something that is applicable both at the college level, but can also be applicable in the K-12 setting.”
Before participating in the Open Letter Project, Bennett said she worked with Maroon and Write and the Quality Enhancement Plan which encourages lifelong writing. 
Bennett said students, especially those entering the education field, can carry the project with them after graduating to classrooms of their own. 
Melinda Pilkinton, associate professor of sociology, said she received Hayden’s email and thought it “sounded like a good project.”
 
Pilkinton said most of the students she teaches are sophomores and juniors and have taken one or two social work courses. Many of Pilkinton’s students have awareness of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, which includes upholding the dignity and worth of individuals and serving those in need.
“They have a lot to say about inclusion in our society,” Pilkinton said. “Many of them are very insightful about differences.” 
These differences can range from racial, socioeconomic, cultural and religious. 
What many people fail to realize, Hayden said, is the university includes a diverse faculty as well as a diverse student body. Faculty, like students, do not fall into a single category. Hayden notes the diverse political and religious beliefs, even sexual orientation represented on campus. 
Hayden said she is compiling the letters into an ebook. When people read the completed ebook, she wants them to get a sense of how people feel and think. Hayden’s wish is to close the book with a short paragraph summarizing the purpose of the letters.
Among the things Hayden wants from readers, is the realization that the letters they are reading could be from anyone. It could be their friends, roommates, even the person sitting next to them. 
Hayden’s point, is readers will not know until you open a door, take down your fence and have a conversation with an open mind, instead of a defensive spirit.
As for the future of the project, Few said she would like to make the project an annual spring event like the veteran’s writing competition the Writing Center sponsors.
Meanwhile, Hayden said she would like to open the project beyond just college students and include teachers as well. As an educator herself, Hayden acknowledges that like their students, teachers also need an outlet to express their feelings.