Building Dialogue Skills on Campus: UConn's "Let's Talk" Retreat Models Civil Conversation in a Polarized Era

UConn's Democracy and Dialogues Initiative, co-directed by History Professor Brendan Kane and Nana Amos of the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, hosted a four-hour student retreat in March 2026 that equipped campus leaders with practical tools for facilitating constructive dialogue across difference. Drawing on frameworks developed in partnership with Essential Partners and Everyday Democracy, the program grounds participants in the neuroscience of conflict response and trains them to move from defensive reaction toward reflective, curiosity-driven communication. The retreat's peer facilitation model — combining structured listening exercises, role plays, and real-time practice — offers a replicable approach for higher education institutions seeking to build dialogue capacity among student leaders. This work directly advances NCDD's mission by embedding dialogue and deliberation skills into campus culture at a moment when civic communication competencies are urgently needed.

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As political polarization intensifies on college campuses and beyond, one UConn initiative is demonstrating what it looks like to build genuine dialogue capacity among student leaders. On March 27, 2026, students from across the University of Connecticut gathered at Storrs for "Let's Talk: Navigating Hard Conversations on Campus," a four-hour retreat co-sponsored by UConn Hillel, the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, and the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. The event was facilitated by faculty affiliated with UConn's Democracy and Dialogues Initiative — a program that has spent nearly a decade developing replicable models for constructive communication across differences in university and community settings.

​What distinguished the retreat was its commitment to embodied, skills-based learning rather than passive instruction. Participants explored the neurobiological roots of defensive communication — why the brain defaults to fight, flight, freeze, or fawn when a perspective is challenged — and practiced moving toward constructive response through structured listening, reflection, and inquiry exercises. Facilitated by Nana Amos, Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute and co-director of the Democracy and Dialogues Initiative, the session walked participants through the distinctions between debate, deliberation, and dialogue, then put those distinctions to work through peer-facilitated role plays and full-spectrum listening exercises. Participants left with a certificate of completion and, more importantly, with transferable facilitation skills applicable to classrooms, student organizations, and community settings.

​The Democracy and Dialogues Initiative, co-directed by History Professor Brendan Kane and grounded in the work of Essential Partners and Everyday Democracy, represents a promising model for how public universities can fulfill their civic mission in an era of division. By training student leaders as dialogue facilitators and partnering with human rights, interfaith, and community organizations, UConn is demonstrating that dialogue is not a soft add-on to campus life — it is a core democratic competency. For NCDD members working in higher education, youth engagement, or practitioner development, this retreat offers a replicable framework and a compelling proof of concept. To learn more about the Democracy and Dialogues Initiative and its approach to civil dialogue on campus, visit the full story at https://today.uconn.edu/2026/04/retreat-aims-at-fostering-civil-dialogue-in-an-era-of-polarization.