Grant Expands Civil Dialogues at Stanford and Beyond

Evidence of political polarization is everywhere, from media outlets to conversations with family and friends. Even though 80% of Americans believe that the US is divided on the most important issues, Stanford and other universities are determined to create more space for respectful, productive dialogue in our society, starting on campus.

Stanford is one of six academic institutions that make up the Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership (ICDP), a national consortium committed to fostering character development through dialogue. ICDP’s mission is to advance fundamental democratic commitments to critical inquiry, freedom of expression, equality, and agency; to develop students’ skills to facilitate conversations across political difference; and to create spaces for civil disagreement to flourish on college campuses. We are pleased to announce that the ICDP has received a 2025 Institutional Impact Grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI) at Wake Forest University. The 3-year, $498,534 grant will support a major expansion of the ICDP’s student fellowship program and will develop new resources for ethics and civic education across higher education institutions.

“Many of these projects are diverse in scope, approach, and context,” said Jennifer Rothschild, the director of ECI at Wake Forest University. “They demonstrate a wider vision for institutional and cultural change that addresses the conditions in which character emerges.”

 At the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, the grant provides the ICDP students with a $1,000 stipend and helps them to create space for respectful, civil disagreement on campus. The fellowship trains undergraduates to lead and engage in conversations on difficult topics across the political spectrum.

“Typically, models of dialogue that students have seen involve showmanship or competitiveness,” said Collin Anthony Chen, director of graduate and undergraduate programs at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. “While such dialogue might make for great entertainment, it is a poor model of constructive engagement.  This grant supports our efforts to change the way conversations happen on campus, to focus less on trying to win at all costs and more on being curious about others.”

One of the ways they promote productive conversations on campus is through the Summer Frosh Civil Dialogues Program. Before even setting foot on campus, students virtually mentor incoming freshman on how to have respectful and honest dialogues throughout their time at Stanford.

Founded in 2020, the ICDP is a collaborative effort among six diverse institutions: California State University, Bakersfield; DePauw University; Harvard University; St. Philip’s College; Santa Fe College; and Stanford University. These partners represent a wide range of institutional types, including public and private universities, two- and four-year colleges, and minority-serving institutions. Together, they offer a year-long hybrid fellowship for undergraduate students focused on cultivating the moral, civic, and intellectual virtues necessary to engage in meaningful dialogue across differences.

The ICDP students from all six campuses start their fellowship at a summer training convention at DePauw University, with travel funded by the grant. Throughout the academic year, fellows foster civil disagreement skills, explore their own motivations and civic identities, and lead dialogues on topics such as free speech, reproductive rights, immigration, and economic justice. The program focuses on building community and authentic engagement, viewing dialogue not as debate or performance but as a practice of forming morals and civic responsibility.

At Stanford, the ICDP students also facilitate sessions for the Democracy and Disagreement course. Led by Debra Satz and Paul Brest, Stanford faculty and guests address the deep disagreement that pervades American democracy, discussing pressing issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; presidential immunity; a wealth tax; and hate speech. The ICDP fellows then lead small-group discussions on these topics with their fellow students.

With the ECI grant, the ICDP will grow significantly over the next three years. The partnership will develop a shareable database of its training materials and pedagogical tools, pilot campus-based applications of its dialogue model, and recruit 30–45 new institutional partners to form additional intercollegiate pods. By the end of the grant period, the program expects to engage 400 to 500 student fellows and reach thousands of students across affiliated campuses through dialogue events, classroom collaborations, and peer-led initiatives.

All this is made possible through funding from ​​Lilly Endowment Inc.