Dinner & Dialogue continues to bring together students, seminarians, staff, and faculty for shared conversations about what we hold dear while creating space for meaningful connections with folks from across campus. Two events were held in the Advent 2023 semester, with nearly 50 members of the campus community in attendance at each dialogue.
This semester’s events featured topics put forward by past participants. Our first Dinner & Dialogue asked participants to reflect on their own diverse understandings of ‘home.’ In this conversation, participants engaged with questions such as: What makes a ‘home’? How have you experienced ‘home’ across your life? Participants’ takeaways suggest ‘home’ can be a place, but also a community of people, a feeling of belonging, and a space for authentic connection and self-acceptance. Through dialogue, participants came to appreciate each other and their own experiences. As one participant described, “Everyone experiences ‘home’ in different and similar ways. Conversations about home allow us to connect and understand each other.”
Our second Dinner & Dialogue explored “Tradition, Transition, and Change.” This topic provided space for conversations about the integral role traditions—both personally and at Sewanee—play in tying us together in community, while also considering how we navigate transitions and changes. Participants’ takeaways note that traditions convey shared values, yet traditions should evolve and change as our community comes to understand what is most important moving forward. In the context of Sewanee, participants valued rituals such as the honor code, gowning, tapping the car roof when leaving the gates, and the passing hello as distinct traditions.
Dinner & Dialogue provides a context for building community and practicing reflective dialogue skills. Participants’ feedback underscores the ways this initiative provides distinct opportunities to hear others’ perspectives, be listened to, reflect on shared perspectives, and think together. As one participant reflected, “Meaningful connections between people can be quickly forged over a simple meal and conversation.” Attendees further described the ways these events help them step outside their typical social circles to meet new people, while also providing opportunities to develop their own perspectives after engaging with others.
Dinner & Dialogue is the signature program of the Office of Civic Engagement’s Dialogue Across Difference initiative, which sets out to build campus capacity for meaningful conversations about complex issues through dialogue. Dinner & Dialogue is made possible through the generous support of All Saints’ Chapel; the Center for Leadership; the Dean of Students and Office of Student Involvement; and the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The success of diversifying participation at Dinner & Dialogue is further made possible through broad campus collaborations with student organizations and offices, and through invitations that ask attendees to ‘bring someone not like themselves.’ Student and seminarian facilitators guide the conversations at each table.
Two additional Dinner & Dialogues are being planned for next semester. Stay tuned for invitations.
