Training to facilitate difficult social justice conversations on campus

The Dean of Student Affairs Office is collaborating with the University Chaplaincy to host a training on Feb. 13 that will teach participants how to effectively engage in difficult social justice discussions.

Forty students and numerous faculty members are expected to participate in the Facilitating Difficult Social Justice Conversations Training, during which student leaders from across campus will have an opportunity to hone their conversational skills and develop strategies to better breach conversations about contentious topics, as well as communicate more effectively regarding controversial social issues.

The event has largely been spearheaded by Director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Center Nino Testa and University Chaplain Reverend Greg McGonigle.

“[The idea] came up in conversations with [Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon]," Testa said. "We felt there was a need for creating a space for our social activists … to come together to have conversations about how they engage with these issues in different places on campus and their lives … and we noticed that some students were struggling to engage with their peers, family members, perhaps staff and strangers on different social justice issues they are involved in."

Working with the chaplaincy on the project seemed to be a natural recourse, according to Testa.

“We are teaming up with the chaplaincy because they have facilitated similar events in the past and were planning on holding a similar event this year," he said. "Joining forces helps us to reach out to a wider range of students."

Testa and McGonigle both explained that the training is comprised of two main sections, the first of which is designed to foster the development and improvement of active listening skills. Tufts' Muslim Chaplain Celene Ibrahim-Lizzio will facilitate this section, they said.

McGonigle added that the second part of the training session, directed primarily by Testa and Director of the Women’s Center Steph Gauchel, will present a wide range of scenarios relating to social justice issues, and students and staff will assemble into smaller groups in order to discuss productive manners to tactfully and effectively approach the challenging situations.

According to McGonigle, mounting tensions and deeper social fault lines in recent years have been major impetuses for action on the part of the chaplaincy. He explained how he feels the chaplaincy holds a direct obligation to help ameliorate some of the division that pervades various aspects of student life.

“The University Chaplaincy has always had nonviolent social change, dialogue and peacemaking at the heart of our values and programming," he told the Daily in an email. "In recent years, and especially since [Sept. 11], interfaith dialogue has been recognized as crucially important for building bridges between people of different religions, cultures and worldviews to promote peace and social justice, the eradication of stereotypes and prejudice and common action for the common good. So we are interested in helping to educate the campus in the skills of interfaith dialogue and action to help all be forces for good in the world."

Testa echoed McGonigle's sentiments, adding that learning how to deal with and beginning difficult conversations is particularly pertinent given the social climate of the campus and, on a greater scale, the country.

“We thought this is an appropriate time to [hold the facilitators training] in thinking about the full-scope of social justice issues, particularly around the [Black Lives Matter movement] and Title IX and sexual assault," Testa said. "There are different modes of engaging as an activist … and we wanted to give students a space to prepare themselves to engage and understand how those issues affect them."

Testa went on to explain that while he feels the training would be constructive for many students on campus, it is primarily geared toward individuals engaged in issues relating to social activism or who plan on interacting with social justice work in the future.

Various student leaders on campus, including Resident Assistant (RA) Morgan Jordan, believe the facilitators' training could promote more fruitful conversations and forge safe spaces within the university.

“I think [facilitators training] would be constructive, and I think student leaders around campus, whether you’re an RA or are on an executive board of another organization, could definitely benefit from some formal training about how to handle difficult conversations that may arise," Jordan, a junior, said. "We have a really comprehensive training at the beginning of the year and it touched on this, but there definitely could be more."

Ultimately, Testa hopes to use the training as a method to restore a sense of respect and compassion to difficult and often controversial conversations.

“I think a lot of times, particularly on difficult issues, conversations turn dehumanizing very quickly," Testa said. "We see this in all of the major issues … there are ways that things turn into debates, opinions. In that, conversations can become dehumanizing to the folks involved in the scenarios."

He explained that he hopes the training will teach participants how to prevent conversations from taking this turn. "This is not a session in which we are teaching students how to debate social issues, but [how to] reinsert a sense of humanity in conversations that can become dehumanizing … [and] without turning it into an argument," he said.