Good morning Campus Colleagues,
The Divided Community Project’s #CampusBridge initiative will offer an intensive virtual strategic planning course for college and university leaders on Wednesday, May 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. Each university or college can register up to four persons. There is no charge, thanks to a grant from the AAA-ICDR Foundation. The focus will be on contingent planning for potential campus hate incidents or conflicts during the coming semester that might be related to such matters as the violence in the Middle East, the November elections, or immigration. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Bill Froehlich at
Please complete this incredibly short application; we will respond quickly to let your know if you have been admitted. If you apply by May 4, we will mail you both reading and resources in advance of the course.
You can expect a lively discussion as well as time for your campus team to discuss applying what is covered, which will include:
- Ideas and illustrations from other campuses
- Guidance for tough dilemmas
- Resources: checklists for listening, for social media review, and for students to extend support to each other; instructional videos for residence hall counselors and others; tabletop simulations to test readiness; a draft agenda for preparing campus administration and security and community law enforcement joint efforts
The topics will be:
- A framework for learning and disseminating information to those who can respond to changing student needs, concerns, and goals;
- Development of bullet points for communicating with campus constituents in a variety of circumstances, including ideas about the messengers and media used;
- A strategy for developing this summer a range of options for students to contribute and learn and for keeping them safe, and being ready to quickly implement this fall as needed;
- Working with students, faculty, staff and law enforcement on plans to respond to hate and crowd events.
We have decided to keep this course short with lots of time for discussion, asking you to read ahead so there will be no need to lecture about materials that are covered in writing. So please review this 30-page booklet that is posted here and will be sent to you in hard copy, along with other resources when you are registered.
This event will include perspectives from those with experience as provosts, deans, statewide office holders, and campus law enforcement leadership, as well as those who have worked for a federal agency tasked with supporting communities and campuses in the face of tension searing the community’s social fabric. Further, in addition to this strategic planning session, our experienced mediators with Bridge Initiative @ Moritz are glad to talk with you about any issues you are facing on your campus to plan for or address potential campus hate incidents or conflicts, if you think that would be helpful.
To reserve your spot, please complete this incredibly short application.