UA to Adopt ‘Sustained Dialogue’ Program to Help Build a Closer Campus

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama is taking part in the acclaimed International Sustained Dialogue program through the UA Crossroads Community Center.

The Sustained Dialogue program at UA will begin with student training Sept. 30-Oct. 1, followed by a campus visit from Harold Saunders, founder of International Sustained Dialogue, on Monday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Ballroom.

International Sustained Dialogue is an independent organization formed in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation. UA joins an elite group of schools participating in the ISD program, including the University of Virginia, Princeton University and the University of Michigan.

UA students plan to use the program to help overcome polarization on campus and to learn about other cultures, as well as to decrease racial tension.

At UA, Bettina Byrd-Giles, director of the UA Crossroads Community Center, has worked since January to form the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network.

Working with Byrd-Giles to organize the initiative were Justice Smyth and Zac Riddle of the SGA, Corrie Harris, assistant dean of students, and Marie Feagins, Crossroads graduate assistant.

Currently working on the endeavor are Sam Todd, UA second-year law student who has had previous experience with the program, Freshman Forum participants Jessica Garcia and Calvin Han, Nicole Frazier and Kenny Liang.

ISD helps people around the world transform conflictive or destructive relationships and to design and implement sustainable change processes. They utilize Sustained Dialogue — a systematic, open-ended political process — to transform relationships over time.

SD focuses on transforming relationships that cause problems and conflict – relationships that may appear calm but are undermined by destructive interactions for a variety of reasons. Also, it offers a process that unfolds through stages in a series of meetings.

UA students interested in being a part of this endeavor can go to http://crossroads.ua.edu for more information.

Web site: http://www.sustaineddialogue.org/

NOTE TO MEDIA: There will be a media availability time for Harold Saunders, founder of International Sustained Dialogue, on Monday, Oct. 9 at 9 a.m. in 232 Ferguson Center, UA Crossroads Community Center.