Dialogue Course Builds Connection, Sparks Action

“Education, by definition, means I’m being exposed to something new,” Walker says. “Otherwise, I’m not learning; I’m just repeating. New means unfamiliar; unfamiliar often means uncomfortable. So if you aren’t being challenged in some way, you’re not getting your money’s worth.”

The DU DialogUes initiative sponsors a full schedule of on-campus events that promote the benefits of meaningful conversation. For example, a three-day retreat over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend served to equip ambassadors of sorts with the tools to build a more unified community.

“The skill most people lack isn’t the ability to give their opinion and walk away,” Walker says. “It’s listening to understand, which doesn’t necessarily mean agreement.”

Ellis notes connection can occur even without agreement. With that in mind, she has structured the content of her course around storytelling, inviting class members to study narrative literature and then share their own experiences through a series of assignments.

Meeting twice weekly, classes typically begin with an icebreaker, after which students hit their journals, reflecting on current events that relate to class themes. Pairs deliver presentations, diving deeper and critically analyzing reading assignments.

As a group, they dig into their individual social identities and the accompanying insecurities. Students share stories of their struggles with disabilities, eating disorders, gender identity and race. As the class progresses, some hot-button issues crop up, too: LGBT rights, immigration, abortion and gun control.

“Things are going to get heated,” says Neda Kikhia (BA ’16), a master’s student of communication studies and co-facilitator for one section of the course. “The topics we choose are things people feel very strongly about. I think there’s something huge about the way we’re modeling how to build relationships and have tough conversations. Being able to distinguish and model that in a class to apply outside of the University is going to be an incredible skill.”

Ultimately, the goal is action — moving these discussions to the greater campus and beyond, culminating with a visit from The Justice Fleet, a mobile exhibit that involves communities across the country in art, play and communication, particularly across difference. DU students in the dialogue courses will have a chance to participate in March. By then, Ellis says, her students will be more than ready to apply what they’ve learned.

“College students are engaged and excited and passionate, and I think this class is a way to engage them in a novel way,” she says. “I think when we give students something to hold on to like stories and relationships, that’s really where we can see them as the changemakers that they are.”

Adds Kikhia: “We’re not just having conversations. We’re not just debating. Those are pieces of it, but at the end of the day, it’s for action, and it’s actually implementing things that serve the public good.”