Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: six blind men encounter an elephant for the first time. They place their hands on the animal to figure out what it looks like. Naturally, they come away with wildly different conclusions.

On their way home, the men have a heated debate, each one defending their woefully incomplete view of the elephant. One man felt the trunk; he argues it’s a serpentine beast. Another felt the tusk and insists it’s covered in a shell, and so on.

When it came to debates over public policy, my college experience was a lot like this parable. My friends and I would argue over public policy without a complete picture of the issues involved. And it wasn’t just us. Sadly, many students at my school seemed content with simply defending the positions endorsed by their political parties.

In this way, college campuses are a reflection of the deep polarization afflicting the rest of the country. Only 42.3% of 2016 freshmen categorized themselves as “middle of the road” as opposed to 51.9 percent in 2001. Students are stuck in echo chambers of partisan opinions… how do we fix that?

Many organizations exist to get students civically engaged, but most of them follow a partisan stance. This is why nonprofits such as Free the Facts are important. Instead of providing opinions, Free the Facts provides students with unbiased information and lets them form their own solutions.

While the men in the parable never resolved their debate, I’m optimistic that students can overcome partisan differences and see the elephant in the room for what it is. Getting involved with organizations like Free the Facts is a great way for students to change their campus atmosphere. Let’s not let partisan differences blind us to the task ahead.