At a time when division and distrust run deep across campuses and communities, the work of the Dialogue Across Difference Program continues to focus on creating spaces where dialogue is not only possible, but also transformative.
Through teaching and scholarly symposiums, workshops and programming, student engagement, and cohort-based collaborations, the program’s work has continued to foster spaces where people can listen, deliberate, and repair trust throughout the Advent 2025 term.
The program’s work is grounded in Director Dr. Lydia Reinig’s scholarly expertise in public dialogue and deliberation and the course she offers in the College’s Rhetoric program, which has put theory into practice while fostering important student-designed conversations about campus expression, a key topic in higher education. In November 2025, Dr. Reinig was invited to present about her innovative course as a session leader for the Council of Independent Colleges’ Leadership Symposium on Civil Discourse: Conversations in the Classroom, Quad, and Community, held at Emory University. More than 25 colleagues from 15 institutions and varied disciplines joined in two days of conversations around building capacity for robust dialogue, deliberation, civil discourse, and democratic expression on college campuses and the renewed role of higher education in fostering a pluralistic democracy. The conversation centered on contexts from individual classroom interactions to campus-wide change, as well as curricular and co-curricular interventions to encourage robust discourse.
The summer and fall brought new opportunities for expanding connections with the School of Theology. Through the work of Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, Cedar Bettis, they and Reinig began developing new offerings for building capacity for dialogue in a faith community context. In September, Reinig held a workshop on fostering difficult conversations for seminary students, while in October she offered a more tailored workshop on these topics for the Chaplains-in-Residence, a program which places seminar students in undergraduate residence halls to support student formation. Bettis also designed a semi-structured dialogue to invite seminary students to gather in courageous, compassionate conversations that encourage community and faithful action in leadership and ministry. These opportunities with the School of Theology expanded the application of dialogue principles to new settings across campus.
The Dialogue Across Difference Program continues to expand opportunities for student dialogue facilitation and the design of critical programming that encourages civil discourse. This year Dialogue Ambassador Sophie Daniel C’28 and Democratic Engagement Service Intern Olivia Moellering Baratas C’27 were selected to participate in the University of Delaware's Stravos Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Ithaca Initiative National Student Dialogue, while Reinig was invited to be a faculty facilitator. Focused on activating ‘third spaces’ on college campuses, Daniel and Moellering Baratas were part of conversations bringing together over 130 students from 54 institutions, who connected around salient campus issues such as free expression and belonging, self-censorship, and conflicting worldviews. Moellering Baratas describes the impact of her experience, saying:
"What made the SNF Ithaca Dialogue so impactful for me was getting to step outside my own campus bubble and hear how students from all over are wrestling with similar challenges. The conversations were honest in a way I didn’t expect, and they pushed me to rethink how I show up in moments of disagreement. I left with new friendships and a lot of ideas I’m excited to bring back to Sewanee!"
At the core of the Dialogue Across Difference Program are campus community collaborations that bridge differences and build relational skills for understanding and collective change. Through participation in the Turning Towards Cohort (supported by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and led by Trust Labs), Reinig, along with Dr. Al Bardi (Psychology and Chair of the Indigenous Engagement Initiative), Dan Hall (‘Strong Heart Bear,’ IEI Member and local Indigenous Spiritual Leader), and Christina Ulibarri (‘She Stands Tall,’ IEI Member and local Indigenous Spiritual Leader) have collaborated to introduce Indigenous Talking Circles to the broader Sewanee community. A talking circle is a ceremonial process rooted in Indigenous traditions, used to foster deep listening, equitable sharing, and community healing. As one participant described, “I appreciated the practice of mindful and active listening, and how this event cultivated the practice in a sacred way.”
This work, along with upcoming Dinner & Dialogue events and additional collaborative programming will continue in the new year.
Whether in the classroom, theological spaces, national convenings, or indigenous circles, the work of the Dialogue Across Difference Program demonstrates that dialogue isn’t just an academic exercise but rather robust dialogue is necessary for living well together and building a shared future.
