What is Sustained Dialogue?
Sustained Dialogue (SD) is a process that addresses issues of community relations including race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability status, and other topics that often aren’t effectively discussed in diverse groups. SD seeks to transform relationships for the better through meaningful dialogue by creating a space for students to convey and exchange not just their opinions about contentious matters, but also share their personal stories and life experiences. Careful attention to creating a learning space for dialogue makes it possible for people from different sides of an issue to learn the root causes of community problems and build better strategies to address these root causes with new allies.
SD was created by Dr. Harold "Hal" Saunders, an American diplomat who was instrumental in a number of peace processes in the Middle East in the 1970s onward. In the early 1990s, Dr. Saunders distilled over 30 years of experience and observations into SD, this unique change process which (1) focuses on transforming relationships that cause problems, creates conflict, and blocks change; and (2) emphasizes the importance of effective change over time.
In 1999, a group of students at Princeton University began using the process to solve deep-seated issues around race relations. The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network has grown over the years to include 62 campuses around the world. SIUE is the only public university in the state of Illinois included in the campus network.
Get a Glimpse of Sustained Dialogue!
- Sustained Dialogue: Not Just Talk
- SD Students: Listen. Understand. Take Action
- Tell Me More - Using Sustained Dialogue on Your Campus
Sustained Dialogue at SIUE
The Sustained Dialogue program at SIUE was first piloted during the 2016-2017 academic year as a curricular and co-curricular program. To date, over 300 students have participated in the program as either peer moderators or dialogue group participants!
See what our students are saying!
- “Sustained Dialogue challenges you to think outside the box. We all need that mental challenge.”
- “It was great listening to others’ perspectives. I learned a lot of powerful stories from my group members. This is a positive program.”
- “Listening is powerful. Ideas change us.”
- “It was a learning experience and has opened my eyes to new perspectives.”
- “Everyone was able to share their story, so it really made me think about my story.”
