What is SD?

Sustained Dialogue (SD) is a tool that helps students make time to understand the different perspectives of individuals they otherwise would not meet.   Engaging in such important conversations not only enables them to interact comfortably with all kinds of people, but also helps build relationships across community divides.  SD equips students with communication skills necessary for increasingly diverse academic, social, and work environments.   

SD is a natural 5-stage process that works.  It is one based on developing a relationship first before solving a misunderstanding or conflict.   Dr. Harold Saunders, former US diplomat and Assistant Secretary of State, observed this natural process and put it into writing. In 1993, he was one of 7 citizens that gathered to talk about how to bring peace from the civil war in the former Soviet republic Tajikistan. He said, “They could barely look at each other. Their comrades had been killing each other.” But they met over 35 times and were able to work out a plan for peace.

On college campuses, students meet regularly in small groups over the course of an academic year.  This makes SD unique from one-day forums that give only enough time for individuals to express their problems and concerns, when what they really need is to continue the dialogue, get to the root of the issue and come to an understanding before taking action to solve it.

Groups are given the freedom to concentrate on the issues most pertinent to their campus communities, whether the divisions tackled are related to patterns of racism or ethnic intolerance, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, ideological division or less recognizable forces that make the campus less cohesive.  Participants and moderators don't follow a curriculum; the yearlong conversation is structured by participants' concerns and experiences.