CUMU Conference 2019

In an age of political polemics, colleges and universities have a responsibility to foster constructive dialogue on difficult topics among students – and the broader society – comprising different viewpoints and backgrounds. At The University of Scranton, a Political Dialogues Working Group has established a multi-year interdisciplinary, collaborative, and uniquely Ignatian civic engagement initiative to burst political bubbles; the project has involved facilitator training, co-curricular and course-based student dialogues, community-based learning, local and national partnerships, and research activities and outcomes. As a Jesuit institution, the project has been situated in the university’s mission to promote both justice and reconciliation with a focus on creating the conditions for dialogue and in-depth understanding. Student dialogue topics have included immigration, guns, and political correctness/free speech; community-based dialogues have covered issues of race, injustice and community and, “What does it mean to be an American?” National and local partners have included Essential Partners, the American Library Association, Scranton Public Library, and the Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission, among others. This presentation will provide concrete learning outcomes regarding how to design effective political dialogues in campus and community settings and engender discussion about such pertinent issues as the difference between debate and dialogue and how dialogue structure/format can address an asymmetry of power among participants.