Talking Across Difference Aims to Build Civil Dialogue Despite a Divisive Political Climate

An initiative from the Rutgers Democracy Lab equips students, faculty and staff with tools for respectful engagement on challenging public issues

An initiative at Rutgers University-New Brunswick is helping students develop the skills and confidence to engage in meaningful conversations during an era marked by political polarization, social division and declining trust in democratic institutions.

Through Talking Across Difference, a program developed within the Rutgers Democracy Lab at the Eagleton Institute of Politics during the 2024-2025 academic year, students, faculty and staff are learning how to engage in productive conversations on challenging political and social issues facing the United States while maintaining mutual respect.

Administrators and educators behind the program aim to create opportunities for respectful dialogue across ideological, cultural and personal differences. Through workshops, student leadership programs, public forums and campus events, participants learn techniques such as active listening, perspective-taking, fact-checking and creating a culture of respectful dialogue.

For Eagleton Director Elizabeth Matto, Talking Across Difference extends the institute's mission of helping Rutgers students understand not only politics, but how democracy functions in practice.

Talking Across Difference "is meant to equip the entire campus - faculty, staff and students - with the skills that they need to have for difficult, sometimes divisive conversations," said Matto, a research professor focused on democratic education. "It seeks to offer spaces and opportunities to learn and practice the skills of talking across difference."

"The mission of the Eagleton Institute of Politics has been to link the study of politics with the practice of politics," Matto said. "Dialogue across difference or engaging in political discussion is really an extension of the work that Eagleton always has done and that the Rutgers Democracy Lab is doing this on an even greater scale across the university."

A core component of Talking Across Difference is a cohort of undergraduate student leaders who receive training and academic credit while developing and facilitating dialogue opportunities for their peers.

The student leaders participate in a year-long, credit-bearing experience led by Matto and Nick Longo, the director of Rutgers Democracy Lab, a campus-wide effort to strengthen democracy through civic learning, research and experiential education. Before the semester begins, student leaders complete a day-long training and continue meeting twice weekly throughout the academic year.

Rather than focusing on political advocacy, Talking Across Difference emphasizes civic learning and democratic engagement. Participants are encouraged to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to become informed and engaged citizens.

"Political discussion has always been seen as a best practice of civic education," Matto said. "There's plenty of solid research that demonstrates that campuses that have a culture in which students are often given opportunities or find themselves in political discussions ... can be an enriching learning experience."

She noted that mission feels especially relevant as today's college students come of age amid intense political and social divisions.

"Public opinion research is revealing that people are losing confidence in American democracy, including young adults," Matto said. "But we know that college campuses are spaces for civic renewal. They can be a microcosm of democracy. They are places in which students can learn how to be citizens."

Monica Dunkerson, a graduate assistant for Talking Across Difference, said preparation is a critical component of the program.

"On a day-to-day basis, my role is mostly researching and planning how to prepare the cohort to go out and have these difficult conversations and navigate and facilitate these conversations with different students," said Dunkerson, who is pursuing her master of arts degree in East Asian languages and cultures at the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies.

Student leaders are trained through readings, workshops, discussion exercises and simulated conversations that expose them to different perspectives.

"We do a lot of research - and ask the students to do a lot of research to prepare them so they walk into these conversations and sensitive topics informed about what they're talking about," Dunkerson said. "Then we execute different activities so they can practice having conversations amongst each other with these sensitive topics, and then they feel more comfortable and secure having these conversations with a larger group of students or students that they've never met before."

Participants may be asked to explore viewpoints different from their own, a practice designed to strengthen empathy and understanding.

Throughout the academic year, student leaders help facilitate programs ranging from workshops and social gatherings to Café Democracy, a public discussion series focused on strengthening democracy.

A visible component of the initiative is the Talking Across Difference forums held biweekly at The Yard on College Avenue, an effort piloted by students during the 2025-2026 academic year. There, student facilitators invite other students passing by to join conversations on timely and challenging topics.

We do a lot of research - and ask the students to do a lot of research to prepare them so they walk into these conversations and sensitive topics informed about what they're talking about.

Monica Dunkerson

Graduate assistant

"The Yard was selected due to its visibility," Dunkerson said. "We can engage with so many students from different backgrounds, different disciplines. Our goal is really to reach every corner of campus that we can."

Topics planned for forums at The Yard include artificial intelligence and democracy, civic responsibility, trust in science and government, social media and politics, environmental policies, free speech on campus and the role identity plays in difficult conversations.

Organizers behind Talking Across Difference place particular emphasis on developing transferable professional skills that students can carry beyond college. Matto said a goal is to help students understand that disagreement is natural.

"It's baked into the system of American democracy," she said.

Matto added that managing those disagreements might require skills such as active listening, "being able to actually hear what the other person is saying - listening with a sense of curiosity, not just listening in order to respond."

Other skills include perspective-taking, evaluating evidence and creating productive environments for discussion.

For Dunkerson, the student-led format is a major strength of the program.

"I think they really play a leadership role within the cohort," she said. "It makes it feel more peer-to-peer related for students and encourages students to participate in our events as well."

In order to solve public problems, it really requires a willingness, an ability to talk to others, to engage in discourse, to engage in problem-solving with others.

Elizabeth Matto

Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics

As the midterm elections approach, Matto said the ability to engage respectfully across differences has become increasingly important - adding that a system of self-government such as the United States "really requires it."

"In order to solve public problems, it really requires a willingness, an ability to talk to others, to engage in discourse, to engage in problem-solving with others," she said.

Dunkerson agreed, emphasizing that meaningful dialogue does not require complete agreement.

"It's so important just to keep having conversations with one another so that you can find common ground, even if it is a sliver of common ground," she said. "Participating in those conversations is so important."

The initiative's goal extends beyond individual discussions: Program leaders hope participants gain a greater sense of civic responsibility and confidence in their ability to contribute to public life.

"I would hope they come away with a disposition that they can, and they should, engage in their communities, that there's a place for them in civic life and political life and that they can participate in difficult conversations," Matto said.