Societal divisions threaten the mutual understanding, shared norms of behavior, and commitments that are so vital to the resilience of our democracy. Mending these divisions is not only a challenge of policy and politics. It is an educational imperative.
- Hiram Chodosh
Activation Plan
Below is an overview of some campus activities:
- As a campus-wide initiative, the nationally recognized Open Academy gives students the tools to listen respectfully, ask incisive questions, and engage with greater curiosity and openness to differences of opinion. Building on its singular program, the Athenaeum, CMC has increased the number of “flipped Ath” events to stimulate constructive dialogue in roundtable settings over dinner. These include its Saturday Salons, organized by student fellows with intimate discussions on controversial topics such as the war in Gaza.
- CMC’s annual orientation for first-year students includes training on constructive dialogue skills, including multiple sessions on active and reflective listening, dialogue versus debate, and how to ask clarifying and/or reframe questions to reduce the potential for conflict.
- CMC has implemented the Perspectives program in collaboration with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Constructive Dialogue Institute; this includes 86 percent of new students completing the first two modules and 73 percent completing all six.
Hiram Chodosh
President, Claremont McKenna College
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Join the growing consoritum of campus leaders urgently committed to collectively restoring higher education’s role in democracy.
Hiram Chodosh
President, Claremont McKenna College
Below is an overview of some campus activities:
- As a campus-wide initiative, the nationally recognized Open Academy gives students the tools to listen respectfully, ask incisive questions, and engage with greater curiosity and openness to differences of opinion. Building on its singular program, the Athenaeum, CMC has increased the number of “flipped Ath” events to stimulate constructive dialogue in roundtable settings over dinner. These include its Saturday Salons, organized by student fellows with intimate discussions on controversial topics such as the war in Gaza.
- CMC’s annual orientation for first-year students includes training on constructive dialogue skills, including multiple sessions on active and reflective listening, dialogue versus debate, and how to ask clarifying and/or reframe questions to reduce the potential for conflict.
- CMC has implemented the Perspectives program in collaboration with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Constructive Dialogue Institute; this includes 86 percent of new students completing the first two modules and 73 percent completing all six.
Societal divisions threaten the mutual understanding, shared norms of behavior, and commitments that are so vital to the resilience of our democracy. Mending these divisions is not only a challenge of policy and politics. It is an educational imperative.
- Hiram Chodosh