Project Summary

Encountering Controversy is a two-year project designed to engage faculty and students in constructive dialogue about sensitive political, religious, racial, and cultural issues. It was created in partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University and is one of 26 projects throughout the country to be funded by the Ford Foundation’s Difficult Dialogues initiative.

The project encompasses three major activities:

1.  Faculty Fellows program.  In May 2006, a cadre of selected faculty leaders representing both universities will convene for an intensive summer development program of effective cross-cultural strategies for encountering controversy.  These Faculty Fellows will then act as field practitioners and leaders, putting the various strategies to work in the classroom and in other university events during the 2006-07 academic year.

2.  Practicing Civil Discourse.  A second project activity will include multiple events organized around a common controversy or theme.  UAA and APU will designate a Book of the Semester for Fall 2006 and Spring 2007, and then will hold a series of conversations and guided explorations, inside and outside of the classroom, on topics raised by the books.  Public forums, guest speakers, art programs, and performances will be encouraged to focus on controversies and themes in common with this project.

3.  Handbook of Best Practices.  During the summer and fall of 2007, faculty experiences, curricula, and materials will be compiled in a handbook of best practices for distribution to the faculties of both universities and to selected universities nationwide.

The project was designed to address the increasing polarization of our society and the need for faculty to deal more effectively with breakdowns in civil discourse.  At one extreme are voices that are too forceful and may overrun the complexities of other people, cultures, and traditions.  At the other extreme are voices that are not forceful enough, whether by personal or cultural inclination or because they’ve been intimidated into silence.  This project hopes to bridge that gap, fostering a greater understanding of the religious and cultural complexity of our community, a greater willingness to engage in open discussions without attacking one another, and more meetings in the gray areas between absolute positions.  The overall goal is to improve the learning climates on both campuses, making them more inclusive of minority voices and ways of knowing and safer places for learning and the free exchange of ideas.