Project Lead: Sarah Ampalloor, Student, Molecular Environmental Biology

BridgeUSA is an investment in the future of American democracy. We champion ideological diversity, promote a solution-oriented political culture, and teach responsible discourse in order to develop a generation of political leaders that value empathy and constructive engagement. External events plans to host panel discussions on Homelessness and Public Education, as well as a bipartisan panel with two former members of Congress who represented California. Special events is putting on an event that will bring together various student group leaderships from across the campus to promote conversation at the executive level. We are also looking at trying to re-establish the Free Speech Initiative and are working with the Chancellor's office to try and figure out the best ways to establish discourse in the Berkeley community.

Project Lead: Srija Manchkanti, Student, Bachelor of Arts

Our project aims to increase civic engagement on our campus while collaborating with other student organizations doing similar work. Previous and current efforts include the creation of a Voter Education Guide, panels featuring local politicians, friendly civic engagement “competitions,” a civic engagement concert, and lots and lots of tabling efforts. This year, our specific focus is on both the institutionalization of voter registration as well as preparation for the primaries.

Project Lead: Akshita Gandra, Student, Cognitive Science, B.S.

The REVIVAL Zine (therevivalzine.com) is an online feminist publication and youth-led organization based in Davis, California. We strive to empower womxn, facilitate discussion, support marginalized groups, and mobilize for action towards social change by allowing all students to reclaim their voices. Through launching projects that help further the advancement of at-risk populations in the community, advocating for intersectional feminist causes, and allowing student writers & activists to share their views, REVIVAL is attempting to create meaningful change. We plan to expand by establishing chapters in every UC campus this year.

Project Lead: Brian Soucek, Professor, School of Law

This half-day workshop at UC Davis will bring together experts on constitutional law, education, and restorative justice to demonstrate productive responses to political provocations in the classroom, and to discuss what kinds of responses the constitution permits at state schools like the University of California.

Project Lead: Joseph Anthony Martinez, Student Expression and Campus Activities Coordinator in the Center for Student Involvement

This project will be offering student leaders and staff the opportunity to build skills that may help them express their ideas with others that also encourages dialogue and understanding. This program will be partnering with Conflict Mediation and Resolution Centers to provide training sessions on campus.

Project Lead: Xavier Hernandez, Diversity and Inclusion Programs Officer, College of Health Sciences

“Acting Against Intolerance” is a workshop designed to help faculty, staff, and students recognize and act against discriminatory treatment from medical patients. Healthcare providers of all classifications – nurses, doctors, technicians, etc. – often assume that hostile words from patients are protected under their protected First Amendment rights. Examples of such incidents include but are not limited to patients explicitly questioning the competence of providers or refusing to consent to medical care from a provider of a minoritized class. Whether such acts are protected by the First Amendment or not, an incomplete understanding of the First Amendment and its limits thus holds the potential to create an unsafe working environment and more importantly, a compromised environment of medical care.

Attendees will learn how to differentiate between acts that are protected and not protected under the First Amendment, both in general settings as well as those specific to medical care. Additionally, they will learn how to confront acts of discrimination – regardless of whether or not they are protected under the First Amendment – in a civil manner that conveys support for both the patient’s and provider’s needs. These practice-based components are comprised of elements of medical assessment, bystander intervention, and de-escalation, as well as support and empathy for those who have been victimized. Our goal is to foster the practical skills to engage in meaningful dialogue about the root issues of our misunderstandings and to support members of our community in times where their voices may be silenced in spite of being free.

Project Lead: Bradley Queen, Associate Professor of Teaching, Department of English

Our VOICE grant funds a one-day conference in the spring of 2020. As the culminating experience for undergraduate students enrolled in humanities and composition courses studying the First Amendment, the conference will reach across academic disciplines and social institutions, bringing together a community of students, scholars, legal practitioners, and gaming industry experts within the setting of a major public university. Focusing on broad themes—among them free speech absolutism, threatening rhetoric and hate speech online and in society, freedom of and access to reliable information on the Internet and across media, violence and gendered representations in video games and other media—panels and presenters will lead discussions about some of the most salient tensions in our society today.

Project Lead: Shelby Leigh Smith, Student, B.A. Social Policy and Public Service

The Olive Tree Initiative is a multi-campus program which promotes open discourse to gain a better understanding of “the other” through academic curricula, leadership development, and experiential education trips to the Middle East and other conflict regions. OTI provides students, faculty, and community participants with the education, training, and experiences needed to better understand, navigate, and resolve conflicts in a manner that promotes inclusivity of a plurality of narratives. The annual Olive Tree Initiative Student Leadership Retreat in February 2020 will bring together 50-60 students, alumni, faculty, and staff from across eight chapters, including from five UC campuses. Throughout the weekend, students have the opportunity to attend workshops that provide information, an open space for dialogue, and skill building activities. This retreat not only provides students the space for engagement, but also provides knowledge regarding the opportunities for research, leadership, and advocacy, to expand on their own engagement at their respective campuses.

Project Lead: Carrie Usui Johnson, Director, Professional Development and Partnerships, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Center X

In this year-long project, UCLA Center X community members will participate in a series of dialogues about the purpose and practice of powerful civic discourse and productive dialogue. Our work with K-12 educators across Los Angeles allows us to engage in and learn about the ways in which civic discourse and productive dialogue can challenge the inequities in schools. Through this series of dialogues, we hope to surface professional and personal examples of how language informs identity and can be used as an instrument of “othering" or to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion; and how we use language with one another and in our work to reflect and advance our shared values. By exploring our own ideas regarding the power of language and dialogue, we anticipate using our experiences to inform and influence how we support educators to consider the relationship between free speech and inclusivity and equity in schools.

Project Lead: Dania Matos, Associate Chancellor, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Free speech on college and university campuses is a topic that is hotly debated, often juxtaposed with social justice and framed in an adversarial framework. It can even be taken a step further with social justice advocates aligned as hate speech opponents and free speech advocates as anti-social justice, giving it more of an appearance of free speech versus hate speech. As such, we will engage in this very intersection and create the inaugural Transformative Dialogues: Free Speech Week. The objectives for the inaugural week at UC Merced will consist of faculty/staff, office and department partnerships regarding panels and invited guest speakers to address free speech and academic freedom and its intersection with social justice on campus. As a collaborative cross campus effort, this initiative aims to educate the campus community of this critical topic as we enter an election cycle. On-site and online feedback will be collected, reviewed, vetted and shared with other stakeholders.

Project Lead: Gerardo Medina, Coordinator, Leadership and Service Programs, Office of Student Life

The goal of the Civic Engagement Ambassador Program (CEAP) will be to create a leadership development program that will prepare UCR students to become ambassadors for, and the next generation of leaders in, the world of civic engagement and free speech. CEAP will provide a curriculum that includes topics such as free speech, the different forms of civic engagement and protest, and political empowerment. The program will approach free speech through a framework of navigating dialogue and will challenge students to learn to engage in conversations with courage and civility, in an effort to create a culture of productive discussion. Additionally, CEAP will challenge students to put their leadership into practice by becoming involved in their communities through service, advocacy, voter engagement, and census work—among other forms of civic engagement. Student participants will learn the different ways they can become civically engaged, the balance of free speech and community building on college campuses, and will be challenged to think critically about their role as student leaders in these conversations.

Project Lead: Divya Prakash Bhatia, Student, Global Health (major) and Public Service (minor)

Triton's VOICE moves to mobilize existing UCSD organizations to create a cohesive channel for students to become civically engaged. We are committed to motivating students to be involved in social issues and connect them to civic action by introducing dialogue through entertainment. Triton's VOICE is home to students of all backgrounds who wish to engage in discussion regarding social and political issues, emphasizing education and a path to civic action.

Tune in to the Triton's VOICE "Activist-in-Progress" podcast.

Project Lead: Mica Pollock, Professor of Education Studies, and Director of UC San Diego's Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE)

In a national climate of political polarization and hate, our project responds to a crucial need to facilitate dialogue across lines of difference, by offering a simple mechanism for university community members to engage in learning, advocacy, and discussion around issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. To promote open discourse and civic engagement, UC San Diego is adopting the “#USvsHate” collective action project. #USvsHate (usvshate.org) is an anti-hate messaging initiative that UC San Diego researchers and local educators successfully piloted in K-12 schools and community colleges from 2017-2019. #USvsHate is now scaling nationally with Teaching Tolerance, the K-12 education branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center. UC San Diego will be the first four-year institution of higher education to participate in the #USvsHate national movement.

In #USvsHate, educators facilitate anti-hate lessons catalyzing classroom dialogue about issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Educators tap a free collection from national partner organizations, or build on their existing curriculum. Then, students create public anti-hate messages for their campus communities (in any media) that explicitly address, explore, and refuse racism, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, or other “hate forms.” Our campus partners in the #USvsHate initiative include UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE), Cross Cultural Center, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) approved courses, and Triton Community Initiative.

Project Lead: Daniel Arturo Min, Coordinator

The Undocumented Student Services' Legislative Advocacy Program (LAP) focuses on developing students' abilities to represent themselves and their community on a legislative level. Throughout LAP, students will develop several skill-sets such as public speaking, team management, and online research through extensive training and workshops. Accepted applicants are given opportunities to advance professional goals and grow social justice responsibility in the undocumented community. The program ends with two major events: CIPC's Immigrant Day of Action during which students will travel to Sacramento to talk with representatives in person and a cohort-hosted event organized and planned by students.

Project Lead: Zahabiya Nuruddin, Student, Business Psychology (B.S.)

Open Dyalog is a platform for students to share their perspectives and experiences to reach a deeper understanding of each other. Every week, student facilitators lead an open discussion about a different controversial issue. We strive to create a space where all voices are heard so that we can explore all the different sides to a particular topic. Participants learn about empathy, active listening, and perspective taking. Through a comprehensive student-led training program, students have the opportunity to grow as leaders among their peers by facilitating these discussions across campus.

Project Lead: LaMisha Hill, Director, Multicultural Affairs - Office of Diversity and Outreach

Bay Area Psychologists Dr. Anatasia Kim and Dr. Alicia del Prado are co-authors of the book, “It's Time to Talk (and Listen): How to have Constructive Conversations about Race, Class, Sexuality, Ability & Gender in a Polarized World.” They will facilitate a “train-the-trainer” workshop, to support skill building for a select group of campus stakeholders who are deeply engaged in campus and departmental diversity initiatives. The objectives of the training are to:

1. Educate participants on the eight step Kim Constructive Conversation Model;
2. Provide participants with practical tools for engaging in discourse centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion;
3. Provide participants with practical tools for communication to address microaggressions and bias;
4. Equip participants with the necessary skills to further educate the campus community on the Kim Constructive Conversation Model and communication tools to address microaggressions.

Project Lead: Harper Lambert, Student, English and Film & Media Studies

Hosted by Harper Lambert and Melanie Ziment, "Now We're Talkin'" is a podcast broadcasted from the offices of the Daily Nexus, UCSB's student-run newspaper. The podcast will create a space where students, faculty and local leaders can engage in open dialogue about issues impacting college students. By sparking lively discussion, we intend to make NWT not just a topic of conversation, but a tenet of campus life.

Project Lead: Joanne Nowak, Academic Coordinator, UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy

The UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy Podcast aims to help create a more informed and engaged campus community by providing in-depth information on issues of poverty and inequality, as well as to highlight the voices of college students in order to remind youth and adults alike of their potential to challenge inequality, foster sustained conversations, and take action as powerful agents of change.

Project Lead: Jasmeet Dhaliwal, Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth & Planetary Sciences

This project will be in the form of a workshop series that will seek to discuss the role of free speech and civic engagement in extractive geologic practices, such as mining and oil and gas exploration. These workshops will bring together researchers and students from diverse disciplines in order to explore the views of the "extractive," and its effects on both human ecology, and the interaction between humans and the environment. Traditional examples of the extractive include mining, logging, oil and exploration, and industrial agriculture, but it may also extend to the sociological effects in human communities from being displaced, exploited, or marginalized, as well as their resulting interactions with their environment. The major aim of this workshop would be to create an open dialogue of free speech and civic engagement on the topic of extractive geologic practices. In the future, this interdisciplinary conversation could lead to greater collaboration for understanding and mitigating the effects of extractive industries on humans and their relationship to their environment.

Project Lead: Jon Ellis, Director, Center for Public Philosophy; Associate Professor of Philosophy

Our playful deck of cards will introduce 52 ethical questions arising from recent and imminent advances in technology (from genomics to AI, big data, etc.). Each card will pose one ethical question and provide initial guidance for discussion and reflection. Our primary goals are to bring greater awareness to some of the most pressing ethical issues of our time, and to facilitate constructive conversations on contested topics.