Dialogue Across Difference Initiative

"Bring people together, and they'll awaken to their common humanity.”

- Dr. Jamil Zaki (War on Kindness, UCLA Common Book 2024)

T

he COVID-19 pandemic, political polarization and economic uncertainty have exacerbated growing divisions and we’re experiencing an erosion of discourse. Given the importance of robust communication to the work of a university, then-Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt, Ph.D. ’94, determined that as a public research institution, UCLA must fulfill its mandate to bridge these divides and foster open dialogue, critical thinking and empathy. He convened a committee chaired by UCLA professor David Myers, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History and director of the Bedari Kindness Institute. Myers says, “The work of the University is to create the necessary friction to generate knowledge in order to serve society. We have to begin by imagining UCLA as a laboratory of experimentation to figure out how to engage people across differences in ways that can build a shared sense of community.”

The committee developed a plan to build a campus-wide culture of respectful communication, called the Dialogue across Difference Initiative (DaD). Interim Chancellor Hunt introduced the program as part of his Four-Point Plan for a Safer, Stronger UCLA. He said, “Part of our learning and growth comes from engagement with viewpoints we may not agree with or readily understand. While this may be uncomfortable, it is also what helps us deepen our thinking, weigh different approaches and consider new ways of looking at an issue.” 

DaD is a long-term commitment to providing the tools and confidence necessary to increase understanding and empathy among Bruins. Open and respectful dialogue is essential to fostering the innovative, collaborative thinking that drives positive change. 

Maia Ferdman ’15, M.A. ’15, is staff director of UCLA’s Dialogue across Difference Initiative and deputy director of the Bedari Kindness Institute. She says, “We are working to support our community to face the extraordinary divides of our time. The challenge for us is how the University can bring people together across differences with more resilience.”

“Part of our learning and growth comes from engagement with viewpoints we may not agree with or readily understand. While this may be uncomfortable, it is also what helps us deepen our thinking, weigh different approaches and consider new ways of looking at an issue.” 

The Initiative has four prongs of engagement: cultivating student capacity to navigate differences; supporting faculty to teach across difference; public programs modeling dialogue and compassion; and training programs and workshops that will be available to students, faculty, staff and alumni interested in building their skills. 

The prongs of activity include workshops for students, staff, faculty and alumni; training sessions; community-building exercises; public lectures, internships and fellowships. DaD will be compiling a digital clearinghouse of existing dialogue-related efforts and opportunities on and off campus so members of the UCLA community can easily find and access them. DaD is also exploring the launch of the Bruin Bridge Builders fund to support students in accessing workshops, internships and conferences. Ferdman says, “We want to elevate many different approaches to dialogue through the Initiative and bring in people from across campus audiences, because culture change requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.” 

The Initiative has also partnered with national nonprofit Resetting the Table to bring their field-tested approach for navigating differences to campus. It is offering their Speaking Across Conflict workshop to various campus audiences, which focuses on effective communication with those who hold differing beliefs. In this training, participants learn a key communication skill for productive conversations. UCLA vice chancellors and deans have taken a version of this workshop, and it is being offered on a regular basis to faculty, staff and students. Ferdman also led a day-long advanced facilitation training for those who often lead groups, specifically around navigating political or other kinds of differences. 

Co-founded by Eyal Rabinovitch, Ph.D. ’05, Resetting the Table supports "collaborative deliberation in the face of strong differences.” Rabinovitch says, “There isn't a substitute for actively engaging in the process of direct communication across differences. People want to gravitate towards areas of commonality out of fear that our differences are destructive. When you're able to share your views, that's much more productive and constructive.” 

A cohort of eight UCLA staff members are participating in the Resetting the Table “Train the Trainer for Higher Education Administrators.” They are learning the program’s framework as well as how to run their own workshops. Cory Rosas ʼ16, director of UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives, is among the group who are participating and will be a resource for future alumni events.

In addition, there is a faculty fellowship in partnership with the Teaching and Learning Center consisting of 16 faculty members from across 11 disciplines including psychiatry, writing, law and disability studies. Members of this fellowship are either launching a new course or revising a course with an eye for advancing values including active listening, empathy and engagement across divides. The fellowship is convening multiple times a quarter to improve and deepen their skills for teaching across difference.

Denise Pacheco, M.A. ʼ04, Ph.D. ʼ11, senior director of UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives, has been a member of the DaD advisory committee since its formation, bringing an alumni perspective to these important conversations. She says, “We are at the table actively seeking to engage alumni as critical stakeholders, to elevate their influence and inform future programs and resources.” As part of her efforts to incorporate the alumni perspectives, to support the development of student leadership trainees, DaD invited alumni board leaders to share their insights.

“We want to elevate many different approaches to dialogue through the Initiative and bring in people from across campus audiences, because culture change requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.” 

The Bedari Kindness Institute (BKI) is the administrative home for the Dialogue across Difference Initiative, along with the multidisciplinary research program Initiative to Study Hate. The Institute launched nearly five years ago to study and advance the practice of kindness in the world. Myers says, “This is a multiyear undertaking to transform our culture into one which could tolerate and, in fact, embrace debate and discussion across difference.”

BKI and Alumni Affairs have also partnered with The UCLA Common Experience, which fosters community and inspires activism at UCLA through its selection of a title centered around compelling social issues, to hold an event related to this year’s common book, “The War for Kindness” by Dr. Jamil Zaki. They are in the early stages of planning and hope to invite alumni to join students in discussion with the author. Future plans include expanding student-alumni connections to provide skill-building opportunities.

Since the DaD Initiative was rolled out in late 2023, there has been a strong demand for programming. Ferdman says, “The capacity to communicate constructively across differences is an essential leadership skill for the 21st century. We all need to be able to understand how to navigate differences because we are in a pluralistic, democratic and diverse society.”

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We welcome your thoughts. If you have a suggestion or would like to get involved, please reach out to Dr. Denise Pacheco, Senior Director, Alumni Diversity Programs and Initiatives (dpacheco@support.ucla.edu). To learn more, visit the Dialogue across Difference website. 

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