Media Contact: caroline@constructivedialogue.org

New York, NY – The City University of New York (CUNY) has partnered with the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) on a strategic initiative to drive a systemic culture shift across its 25 campuses to foster an environment where students, faculty, and staff can openly exchange ideas, even amid disagreement. This university-wide initiative is designed to strengthen CUNY's ability to navigate ideological differences, combat hate, and promote a campus environment where all students feel a sense of belonging.

The initiative will officially kick off on February 21, 2025, with a meeting of CUNY's Constructive Dialogue Committee, which includes leaders selected by each of the 25 CUNY presidents.

This partnership builds on foundational work between CUNY and CDI initiated in Fall 2024 and expands CUNY's efforts to integrate dialogue as a core institutional practice.

CDI will support CUNY in scaling a multi-tiered strategy for cultural transformation, ensuring that dialogue becomes embedded across leadership structures, student engagement programs, and classroom experiences.

Key components of the initiative include:

• Leadership Development and Institutional Change – Training for the presidents and cabinets of the 25 CUNY campuses to build institutional capacity for leading through polarization and embedding dialogue as a strategic priority across campuses.
• Dialogue Facilitation Certification – A certification program for student-facing staff across all CUNY colleges to build sustainable, campus-wide networks of dialogue facilitators.
• Faculty and Student Engagement – Dialogue facilitation workshops for faculty and student leaders across the 25 CUNY campuses to empower educators and student influencers to shape classroom and campus-wide discourse.
• Scalable Online Learning – Implementation of CDI's Perspectives online learning program across CUNY's campuses to equip students, faculty, and staff with the skills to engage constructively across differences and create a shared framework for dialogue.
• Evaluation and Impact Assessment – Measurement of the effectiveness of these initiatives to track shifts in campus climate.

"As the nation's largest urban public university, CUNY has a responsibility to foster a campus culture where all voices can be heard and difficult conversations can be navigated with respect," said Rachel Stephenson, Chief Transformation Officer at CUNY. "Through this partnership with CDI, we're building a culture of engagement and trust that will prepare our students to work across differences in all domains of their lives."

CDI brings deep expertise in dialogue facilitation, polarization reduction, and cultural transformation in higher education. The organization's approach is backed by rigorous behavioral science research and has been successfully implemented at more than 95 colleges and universities across the country.

"Our work with CUNY is about reshaping the way members of the CUNY community engage with difference, conflict, and discourse," said Caroline Mehl, Co-Founder & Executive Director at CDI. "By integrating dialogue practices across leadership, curriculum, and student life, CUNY is making a long-term investment in its community and its future. We're honored to be partnering with CUNY in this important work."

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About the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) Co-founded in 2017 by psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Caroline Mehl, the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-profit organization that builds educational tools to equip Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across differences. To accomplish this goal, CDI translates the latest behavioral science research into educational resources that are evidence-based, practical, and scalable for institutions, educators, and communities.