Hinckley forum teaches constructive-dialogue skills to University of Utah students

Josh Schollroof, campus dialogue program manager at the Bennion Center for Community Engagement, led a “Talking Politics 101” constructive-dialogue workshop at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. Schollroof described the Constructive Dialogue Institute’s Perspectives program, ran a perception-gap exercise, and guided students through question-framing techniques intended to reduce polarization in political conversation.

Schollroof said the Perspectives curriculum is mostly online, with “six 30-minute asynchronous lessons” and three short in-person conversations, and urged attendees who found the session useful to sign up for the full program. He cited CDI research showing that 45% of students reported being “somewhat or very often afraid to share their views” in classroom settings and that “94% of college students agree that we should listen to others with an open mind, including those with whom we disagree.” He described how…