Sustained Dialogue marks five years of race discussion, growing interest

Sustained Dialogue's kick-off retreat this year drew students and faculty members of many backgrounds, cultures and races to Frist on Saturday morning.

Since its inception five years ago, the group's goal has been to create dialogue on campus about race relations. With the help of a recent grant from the Bildner Foundation — a non-profit group based in New Jersey that aids university students who want to work on projects dealing with inter-racial relations — Sustained Dialogue will be able to take its goals a step further.

The idea for Sustained Dialogue stems from the methodology of Harold Saunders '52, who served as assistant secretary of state under President Carter and co-authored the Camp David Accords, created for conflict resolution.

"On a theoretical level, 'sustained dialogue' is the name of a model to facilitate positive intervention of people in conflict," said David Tukey '02 — who helped jumpstart the program at the University — to the gathered group in Frist 302.

The process includes five stages, moving from an agreement between people with conflicting views to sit and talk while trying to break through some of the barriers separating them.

Five years ago, Saunders began asking students on campus about race relations and, based on their answers, said something had to change.

To that end, groups began meeting together at dinner to talk about race relations from their own perspectives. The first year there were only two groups, but the program has since expanded to 10.

While in past years only select students were asked to join the roundtable discussions, this year the program leaders will focus on getting the word out about their group to a wider range of students, including international graduate students.

"Instead of hand-picking students for the program, this year we will make it more well known on campus," said Sam Todd '03, chair of Sustained Dialogue.

Sustained Dialogue's message has reached beyond the University — with similar programs popping up at colleges along the East Coast. The University of Virginia held a successful event in the spring semester.

Three students from Dickinson University in Carlisle, Pa., came this weekend for the event as well as moderator training. An increasing number of minority students at the school has sparked some concern about race relations there, said Etan Marciano, a Dickinson sophomore.

After some ice-breaking activities at the retreat and Tukey's opening speech, past student participators came to the front of the auditorium to tell about their experiences with the group. Recurring key words among the praises were "powerful" and "valuable."

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After the speeches, students got into their new groups and began discussing some racial issues of import on campus, including self-segregation, the disparity of the social experience for different minority groups, academic requirements and inter-racial dating.