Building Community Through Difficult Conversations

In a time of deep division in communities and on campuses, there is an urgent need to build spaces that support and facilitate communicating across differences. Research from across the disciplines demonstrates that empathy for those we disagree with is a learnable skill, and that it can benefit the individual and society.

Over the 2024-2025 academic year, we supported a series of expert-guided workshops and faculty-led conversations to strengthen our ability to productively engage with those who hold different views from us. Topics for the conversations included those of current interest to society, beginning with less charged issues and gradually working up to more fraught topics.

Sponsored and organized by the Western Washington University Faculty Senate and the Office of Equity, Building Community Through Difficult Conversations was designed to provide the skills and space to stay engaged in the critical work of building connections despite our differences.