This fall, the Reducing Polarization Dialogues with Matt Burgess will be from 12-1pm on the second Friday of each month: Feb. 9, March 8, April 12, and finish May 10.
Political polarization has become a threat to our democracy and our universities. To address this, we are hosting a regular series events, aimed at creating meeting spaces for folks on campus (students, staff, and faculty, administrators and community members) who are interested in building bridges across ideological and other types of differences. Starting in Fall 2023, our dialogs will be jointly hosted by four Colorado universities: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Denver, University of Denver, and Colorado Mesa University.
Our main events will be monthly Zoom dialogs. These discussions start with discussion prompts and sometimes background articles (sent around beforehand). We start in one big room and split off into breakout rooms depending on the size of the group. Topics either focus on an issue being discussed publicly, or an issue motivated by the science of how to reduce inter-group conflict. For example, we often start the year by discussing: "Where do your perspectives come from?” The idea was to share how our upbringings and experiences have influenced our views, in order to build a foundation of understanding and empathy. For more information on previous editions of our series, see here.
This series is co-sponsored by the Heterodox Academy Campus Communities of University of Colorado Boulder and University of Denver, and the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder; and it is supported by Colorado Mesa University and the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs.