Diversity work on college campuses is undergoing rapid changes amid heightened tension and polarization. The Advancing Campus Pluralism Conference provided space for presidents, senior administrators, and higher education thought leaders to discuss openly their commitments to diversity and cooperation across difference and to think through creative ways of pursuing a pluralistic approach to diversity in a time of polarization.
The convening featured keynotes and plenary panels addressing polarization and highlighting models of cooperation accompanied by two tracks of workshops for participants: A Presidents’ track and a Senior Administrator track. Participants gained valuable insights and built the capacity to develop comprehensive strategies for modeling pluralism on their campuses. We look forward to working together to foster positive change on our campuses and to realizing higher education’s potential for creating an inclusive and cooperative academic environment.
Tentative schedule. Subject to change.
Monday, March 10
12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m.
1:00p.m. – 5:30p.m.
How do college and university professionals attend responsibly to harmful prejudicial behaviors while promoting dialogue, learning, and healing? This 2-part workshop (4 hours total) helps university presidents and senior administrators think through the complex realities of antisemitism and Islamophobia in their campus communities and beyond. The first workshop offers foundational knowledge of antisemitism and Islamophobia, including definitions, histories, and intersections. The second workshop examines one or more case studies on religious prejudice (and other related biases) in a campus context that helps participants consider what a holistic response might look like in their own institutional context. While this training focuses specifically on understanding and countering antisemitism and Islamophobia, there will also be robust discussion of how to envision such interventions as part of a larger vision of civic pluralism.
Facilitators:
Dr. Homayra Ziad, Director of Campus Partnerships, Interfaith America
Rabbi Or Rose, Senior Consultant, Interfaith America
Tuesday, March 11
8:00a.m.
8:00a.m. – 9:00a.m.
9:00a.m. – 10:30a.m.
Welcome from Interfaith America: Todd Green, Senior Director of Campus Partnerships, Interfaith America
Welcome from AAC&U and Introduction to Speaker: Dawn Michele Whitehead, Vice President, Office of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community, and Careers, AAC&U
Opening Remarks: Eboo Patel, President, Interfaith America
From proposals to eliminate the Department of Education to efforts to dismantle diversity programs, higher education finds itself in the middle of a contentious political climate while also struggling in the court of public opinion. This plenary session invites panelists and conference participants to reflect on why pluralism is essential to navigating the political and cultural tensions that campuses will face in the next several years, as well as how pluralism can create space and opportunity for university presidents to lead with courage and vulnerability in such contentious times.
Moderator:
Lynn Pasquerella, President, AAC&U
Panelists:
Mary Dana Hinton, President, Hollins University
Jane Conoley, President, Cal State Long Beach
Fr. John Jenkins, Former President, University of Notre Dame
10:30a.m. – 11:00a.m.
11:00a.m. – 12:00p.m.
Universities are frequently portrayed as sites of unhealthy and unproductive conflict in media and political discourse. Yet few institutions are better positioned to model what it looks like to bring people with diverse identities and ideologies into a common community to pursue common goals. In this session, participants will discuss pluralism as a promising framework for engaging with diversity and will explore ways that this framework is complementary of existing diversity work.
Facilitator:
Melissa Carter, Senior Director and Head of Mindfulness Education and Programs, Global Spiritual Life, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Adjunct Faculty, Silver School of Social Work, New York University
This session will introduce Interfaith America’s “Civic Pluralism Practices” as a best practices framework for promoting civic pluralism on campus. Building from examples of pluralism in action on diverse campuses around the country, participants will workshop strategies for pursuing these practices on their campus in four concrete areas: Institutional Leadership, Curriculum and Scholarship, Capacity Building, and Cocurricular Engagement. Participants will leave the session with concrete next steps, new connections with colleagues on other campuses, and a model for continuing to champion pluralism on their campuses.
Facilitator:
Cassie Meyer, Director of Campus Partnerships, Interfaith America
A documented rise in incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia on college campuses dominated media headlines and occupied the attention of university presidents and senior leaders in the months after October 7, 2023. In this session, we will discuss the benefits of a pluralistic approach for addressing these prejudices in the current polarized political environment. We will pay special attention to how presidents can deploy pluralistic messaging and strategies in response to these prejudices in lieu of punitive measures that may inadvertently pit those impacted by antisemitism and Islamophobia against one another.
Facilitators:
Rabbi Or Rose, Interfaith America
Dr. Homayra Ziad, Director of Campus Partnerships, Interfaith America
12:00p.m. – 1:30p.m.
1:30p.m. – 2:30p.m.
In the wake of state and federal efforts to restrict or eliminate DEI programs and policies in higher education, university leaders are wrestling with what it means to “do diversity” under such challenging and complex circumstances. This session guides participants through the larger implications of legal challenges to DEI efforts at universities and offers insights into how universities can continue to cultivate and invest in diversity initiatives while taking current legislation into account.
Facilitators:
Mary Ann Villarreal, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success, AAC&U
Maria Dixon Hall, Chief Cultural Intelligence Officer and Senior Advisor to the President, Southern Methodist University
At a moment in history and on campus where headlines point to entrenched division and polarization, new ideas and initiatives that focus on purposeful learning and engagement across differences matter more than ever. Grounded in the current collaboration between AAC&U and Interfaith America, participants in this session will explore strategies to move from conversations about pluralism to integrating pluralism across their institutions and learn about current practices on campuses that have centered pluralistic ideals and been effective at building a campus culture of civic engagement and respectful dialogue across difference. Session participants will consider how pluralism relates to existing campus initiatives; who the potential stakeholders who could contribute to the work; how to assess for current synergies for pluralism that may already exist at your home institution; how pluralism connects with other philosophies that guide current practices for student learning in and outside of the classroom; and how to identify next steps for advancing pluralism as an integrated part of campus culture?
Facilitators:
Todd Green, Senior Director of Campus Partnerships, Interfaith America
Dawn Michele Whitehead, Vice President, Office of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community, and Careers, AAC&U
Any effort to infuse pluralism comprehensively into a university’s ethos depends on the willingness of its president to take the lead and set the tone for generating and sustaining difficult dialogues across deep difference. This session guides university presidents through the larger considerations involved in creating opportunities for sustained dialogue and engaged learning across difference at their institutions, with attention to the importance for why these endeavors matter now more than ever in the current and political environment.
Facilitators:
Rajiv Vinnakota, President, Institute for Citizens and Scholars
Jon Alger, President, American University
2:30p.m. – 3:00p.m.
3:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
In public and political discourse, universities are often viewed as sites of intractable conflict as opposed to laboratories for cooperation. Much of the blame for the former, fairly or not, has been directed at existing diversity programs on college campuses. This plenary conversation offers reflections on how universities can rethink and recalibrate their approaches to diversity, disagreement, and conflict on the way to becoming centers of pluralism and models for what it means to live in an inclusive, diverse democracy.
Moderator:
Eboo Patel, President, Interfaith America
Panelist:
Van Jones, CNN Host and Founder of DreamMachine.org
Lynn Pasquerella, President, AAC&U
Please contact us with any questions about the Advancing Campus Pluralism convening.
Joey Haynes
Program Manager
Interfaith America
The Advancing Campus Pluralism: Courageous Leadership in Contentious Times convening is a collaboration between Interfaith America and AAC&U.
