Sustained Dialogue
Sustained Dialogue is a program that allows students to explore race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual identity, religion, age, ability status and other topics that can be difficult to dialogue about in groups. This 10-week program seeks to transform students through dialogue. This transformation increases participants’ capacity to engage differences as strengths which move participants from dialogue to action. What starts with students sharing their own feelings and experiences and hearing stories and life experiences behind others’ perspectives, transforms into an opportunity to keep engagement and learning an ongoing process. Each 10-week dialogue culminates with an action project proposal for the campus from the participants to help create the most inclusive community possible.
Moderators create a learning space for open dialogue that makes it possible for students with differing perspectives on issues to learn the root causes of community problems and build relationships to address these issues with new allies. Student participants are divided into groups of 10-12 students and meet on a weekly basis to create a safe space for dialogue of stories and experiences.
