Difficult dialogues encompass conversations around sensitive topics such as race, gender, politics, and personal beliefs. These discussions can be challenging but are crucial for developing critical thinking and empathy among students.

Key Concepts include:

• Recognizing the emotional weight of sensitive topics.
• Understanding diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
• Aiming for constructive outcomes and mutual learning, rather than agreement.

• Set clear objectives: Define what you hope to achieve with the dialogue. Is it to inform, to empathize, explore differing viewpoints?
• Establish Community Agreements: Collaborate with students to create discussion guidelines that promote respect, active listening, and open-mindedness.
• Use Inclusive Language: Ensure that your language is accessible and respectful, avoiding jargon that may alienate students.
• Encourage Active Participation: Invite all voices into the conversation and consider using small group discussions to build comfort before larger dialogues. Examples of approaches such as Spider web dialogue and civil discourse activities are included in the additional resources for further learning below.
• Model Vulnerability: Share your own experiences and perspectives to create a sense of trust and openness (Hernandez, 2021)

• Active Listening: Encourage students to listen fully to one another without interrupting. Summarizing each other’s points can foster understanding.
• Pause for Reflection: Allow time for students to process what they hear before responding. This can help reduce emotional reactions but also allows for needed cognitive processing time.
• Address Conflict with Care: When disagreements arise, acknowledge them respectfully and move the conversation back to constructive dialogue. Techniques for how to address conflict with care are included in the additional resources below.
• Use “I” Statements: Encourage students to express their feelings and thoughts personally (e.g., “I feel…” rather than “You always…”).
• This document outlines responsive strategies to take in order to respond in the moment of interpersonal conflict.

• Build Trust: Foster relationships through ongoing dialogue, framing language in the syllabus, and modeling inclusive approaches. A strong classroom community aids in navigating difficult conversations.
• Check-In Regularly: Use anonymous surveys or check-ins to gauge students’ comfort levels and adapt your approach as needed. Canvas surveys or end of class period reflections provide means by which to include student voice.
• Be Mindful of Student Reactions: Recognize that discussions may evoke strong emotions. Be prepared to provide support or resources, or refer students to the resources on campus that are available to assist them. (SupportU, for instance.)

At different points throughout a students’ educational journey, they may choose to engage in student protests which may include walking out of planned educational activities. Student walkouts and protests can be powerful expressions of student voices and beliefs that often stem from deep-seated issues related to social justice, policy, or institutional practices. Recognizing the student motivations behind these events can help faculty appropriately respond.

• Remember: Protests are often driven by a desire for change and raised awareness of an issue of concern to the participating students. Acknowledge the emotional and political context of protests and seek to understand the specific issues involved to ensure effective engagement with students.
• Think ahead: How would you like to respond to a disruption? MIT Faculty governance resources provide some ideas that may be informative.

Faculty Responses

• Stay Calm and Composed: Your demeanor can influence the atmosphere. Remain professional and open to dialogue. When tensions or strong emotions are present in the classroom, acknowledge it. This may be as simple as pausing, naming the tensions, or expressing concern for students’ well being.
• Acknowledge the Situation: Recognize the protest and validate students’ feelings. A simple acknowledgment can go a long way. If you or your students need to re-ground yourselves, a mindfulness exercise or reflective journaling may help.
• Ensure Safety: If a protest occurs during class, prioritize the safety of all students. Assess the situation and, if necessary, pause class or allow students to exit safely.
• Invite Reflection: After the event, hold a class discussion to allow students to share their experiences and perspectives on the protest. If you are wondering whether you should devote class time to discussing a conflict consider:
  • How relevant is the conflict to your course topic and learning outcomes? How much class time can you afford to give? How able do you feel – both in professional expertise and in your emotional state – to facilitate the discussion well? Are students in a space where they can listen well and learn together?
• Create a Safe Space: Establish community agreements for respectful dialogue. Encourage students to listen actively and express their thoughts constructively; or move on, if more appropriate. When conditions are right for a fruitful discussion, learning can be transformative. But other times, it’s better to acknowledge why this moment in class is not the right time and place for a fuller discussion. If appropriate,
  • Focus on Learning: Use the protest as a teaching moment to explore related topics, such as civic engagement, social justice, or the role of activism in society.
  • Encourage Diverse Perspectives: Invite students to express differing viewpoints, fostering an environment of critical thinking and respect.
  • Connect students to resources: If individual students seem especially affected, it may be important to follow up with them outside of class time and connect them to resources.
• Address Disruptions: If student behavior(s) are disruptive to learning, ask the student to stop and attempt to deescalate in a way that is minimally impactful to the class. You can consider taking a break and speaking with the student, or ask the student to leave if the disruption continues. More information about how to address classroom disruptions is available in this policy. If you have any questions, you can always contact the Dean of Students Office.

• Conflict Transformation: Proactive Strategies
• Conflict Transformation: Responsive Strategies
• Universities of Wisconsin curated resources on civil dialogue
• AAC&U Campus Conflict and Conversation Help Desk
• University of Connecticut Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Resource page on Difficult Dialogues
• Tufts Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching resources on difficult dialogues
• Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching resources on difficult dialogues
• Sustained Dialogue Institute  
• Spider Web dialogues in classrooms or in online settings

• Conflict Transformation Circles: Division of Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity (CEII) (October 2024)
• Discovery Dialogues UWM Training Opportunities
• UWM Free Speech Resources and Guidance