Student Workshop: Talking Across Differences
In this October 2024 faculty-led workshop, students learned and practiced the skills of dialogue across difference and gained the confidence to talk about politics.
Dialogue Across Difference
A Rutgers–New Brunswick initiative that brings the community together to listen, learn, and engage across ideological divides
Cultivating Civic Discourse
Dialogue Across Difference promotes meaningful civic dialogue among students, faculty, and staff at Rutgers–New Brunswick, from the classroom to the conference room.
This initiative supports workshops throughout the academic year designed to equip participants with the skills to engage thoughtfully in discussions regarding polarizing issues and offers grant funds to assist our communities in designing programs that inspire meaningful engagement and open conversation. The panel discussions are designed to put these skills into action, modeling civil discourse while taking on challenging topics.
Engagement Opportunities
Designed to share useful tools and actionable skills, these workshops empowered students, faculty, and staff to engage with one another in respectful ways while discussing challenging or divisive issues.
Community Conversation
Community conversations focus on skill building around respectful dialogue, to allow us to better engage empathetically across difference. Attendees of this workshop held in November 2024 learned about the CLARA (center, listen, affirm, respond, add) method of communication, designed to help us engage in discussion in ways that invite diverse perspectives to create shared meaning.
Faculty Workshop: Talking Across Difference
In this January 2025 workshop, instructors explored the benefits and challenges that both students and instructors face when incorporating vibrant discussion into the classroom, learned and practiced various evidence-based pedagogical approaches, and envisioned how they might implement strategies for talking across difference into their own courses with confidence.
Panel Discussions
Two panel discussions held in the spring of 2025 covered topics including "Free Speech and the Politicized Campus" and "Teaching the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."
Universities have a special role to play in not only increasing awareness and education around challenging issues but in leading the way toward a more civil and empathetic discourse.
Francine Conway, PhD
Chancellor, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Resources for
Building Bridges
The Rutgers–New Brunswick community is invited to submit proposals for lectures, symposia, artistic events, or other gatherings jointly organized by individuals, groups, or departments whose collaboration exemplifies the bridging of difference across cultural, political, religious, or ideological divides.
Funding amounts will typically not exceed $5,000, though exceptions will be considered. Proposals will be evaluated for their impact and potential to engage large numbers of participants across respective communities, and compelling proposals of this kind are likely to receive more robust funding.
Submissions should be one to two pages and should include:
- A detailed description of the proposed activity,
- An explanation of the collaboration and the way in which it bridges difference according to the above criteria, and
- An estimated budget identifying any additional forms of support.
Review of proposals will occur on a rolling basis for events intended to take place during the current academic year, with notification generally two to three weeks following submission.
A Collaborative Partnership
Dialogue Across Difference is supported by the Office of the Chancellor at Rutgers–New Brunswick in collaboration with the Eagleton Institute of Politics and in partnership with the Division of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, and the University Equity and Inclusion Office.