Depolarization Workshops

In collaboration with the Vice Provost for Faculty, the ICEO and the Institute Discrimination and Harassment Response office are designing a new series of faculty workshops that build critical skills related to navigating difficult conversations and directing conversations toward productive and meaningful discourse. Such skills are especially valuable during times when there are many stressors in our community.  

Starting as a pilot program, we are engaging faculty members who are recommended by their peers and are especially engaged with the MIT community. The 1.5-hour workshop was initially offered in fall 2024 and will continue to be refined in spring 2025.

Workshop description: Depolarizing Conversations That Divide Us

We can sometimes find it difficult to engage with colleagues, students and staff as a result of ongoing debates or conflicts associated with recent elections, global events, or local conflicts taking place within our communities. Strongly held beliefs, viewpoints, and positions that are core to our identities can often leave community members feeling under attack when they are challenged. Faulty assumptions, loaded words and our drive to hold our truths, can push our relationships into a vicious cycle of defensiveness, mistrust, and hostility. When these conversations go wrong, they can tear at the social fabric of our community without making us feel welcome or safer. As responsible members of our community, it can be helpful to learn new approaches.

Led by Nina Harris, Manager of Adaptable Resolution and Restorative Practices, the session explores tools for tackling polarized conversations with the people with whom we are connected and share community, and how these strategies can support us in times of conflict and distrust.

For more information about depolarization workshops for faculty, please contact Nina Harris Manager of Adaptable Resolution and Restorative Practices in the Institute Discrimination and Harassment Response office.