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Halfway across the new semester: Dialogue Across Difference course develops skills for a polarized world
Last week marked the midway point of Washington University’s new Dialogue Across Difference course (DxD), an eight-week, one-credit class dedicated to fostering productive conversation about challenging topics and sociocultural differences.
The program is divided into four identity-based sections: politics, race, gender, and interfaith, and it is funded through a $1 million donation from Thomas and Nicolle McGowan.
While the course was piloted last spring, the university’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) has taken strides to publicize the program and increase enrollment. It has tabled in the Danforth University Center (DUC) and hung signs around campus. Additionally, DxD switched to being offered in the first half of the semester this fall, compared to being offered in the second half of the semester (as it was last spring).
Course facilitator Jeanne Pizarro said this was mainly in response to faculty recognizing students may find it difficult to enroll in the middle of the semester. She said that it’s been a change that serves both students and the faculty.
“It’s nice to have students in a different mental space coming to these sessions,” she said. “Not that there’s [no] pressure at the start of the semester, but it’s a different kind of pressure during the second half, and having that weight off is nice.”
This semester also saw the introduction of the Training and Curriculum Specialist role that was filled by Maria Torres. Last spring, she facilitated a DxD course and served as Coordinator for Diverse Communities and Group Development within the CDI. Torres said the creation of her role was an initiative from the CDI to provide additional support to Jacob Chacko, who initially designed the curriculum and serves as the program director.
Torres discussed the vision that she and Chacko have for students going through the course.
“Something Chacko and I are in conversation about is this idea of bridging the gap between differences on campus, with the way that students sometimes gravitate towards one side or another and don’t necessarily see the gray,” Torres said. “I think that Dialogue Across [Difference] is a really great way to start getting there.”
Course Facilitator Julia Macias also spoke about how the class is creating change in how people approach complicated topics on campus.
“We’re giving folks strategies and skills and information to hold different viewpoints and still be in conversation,” she said. “I think that’s something that’s really hard at any age, any level. I don’t think adults do it well. I don’t think politicians do it well. But it’s so important.”
Pizarro said that part of what makes the course meaningful to her is the relationships that develop between the students.
“The connections that are made are really, really special to witness amongst the students, and I just see how energized they are from being a part of this,” Pizarro said. “It becomes part of who they are once they finish the program.”
Torres spoke about how one of the unique components of DxD is that it allows students to bring in materials outside of class to supplement readings of academic texts and incite discussion. She mentioned a time when a student brought in a TikTok about the importance of using pronouns, as well as an activity in the course where students brought an object that relates to an aspect of their social identity.
“I feel like it sets up the course in a way when you bring in your vulnerable self and you’re open to hearing other people’s experiences,” Torres said. “You may walk away saying, ‘Oh, wow, I will never agree with that person,’ but at least I know a little bit more about them and know what led them to have that opinion.’”
Student representative for DxD Mac Barnes, a sophomore, echoed how the course develops a deep level of understanding between students.
“I think all of [the students] at first said, ‘I really struggle with talking to people that are different from me, and I wanted to learn how to do that or learn to sit in the discomfort and stop trying to be right in every conversation,’” Barnes said. “And out of all the students I interviewed, they felt they walked away from the course with the tools to do that.”
The Dialogue Across Difference course will be offered again in the spring, with all four topics available for selection.
Torres encourages any hesitant student who is considering the course to go ahead and try it.
“You don’t have to be an expert to be in a DxD course … That’s what we’re going to give you to be able to engage with one another” Torres said. “It’s one of those skills you’ll use for the rest of your life, no matter what major and no matter what field you end up in.”