Political polarization has become a threat to our democracy and to our universities. 

This is a monthly series of online dialogues on Zoom aimed at creating meeting spaces for members of mountain-west region campus communities (students, staff, faculty, administrators, alumni) who are interested in building bridges across political, social and other types of differences. 

The dialogues start with discussion prompts and sometimes background articles (sent around beforehand). Atendees start in one big Zoom room and split off into breakout rooms depending on the size of the group. Topics either focus on an issue being discussed publicly, or an issue motivated by the science of how to reduce inter-group conflict.

This academic year (2024-2025), dialogs will take place on the second-last Friday of each month from Noon-1 p.m. MT. You may attend as many or as few of these dialogues as you wish. Each one is meant to be self-contained, but repeat participation is encouraged!

The Reducing Polarization Dialogue Series started at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020. In 2023, participants from four other Colorado universities (Colorado State University, University of Colorado Denver, University of Denver and Colorado Mesa University) joined. In 2024, the series expanded to the University of Wyoming, Boise State University and University of Utah.