Dins Dialogue is a signature initiative of Furman’s Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) Program which was created so that students, faculty, and staff could learn how to have conversations about identities that unite and divide us. Dins Dialogues Peer Facilitators receive ongoing development in dialogic pedagogy and facilitation skills that prepare to be thought and conversation leaders on campus and beyond. Dins Dialogue Workshops create spaces for participants to engage with one another across differences of race, gender, sexuality, class, faith and politics in ways that promote mutual understanding, compassion, and social change.
Program History
In Fall 2015, as a way to gauge the experiences of underrepresented students at Furman, open forum discussions revealed a lack of critical dialogue on Furman’s campus around topics related diversity, inclusion and social justice. In response, the Dins Dialogue program was created as a co-curricular offering to the campus community. In 2018, the Dins Dialogue program formally launched with a group of trained peer facilitators who led workshops on social identity, power and privilege, and community engagement. As of 2021, the peer facilitators have led hundreds of workshops in which participants engage one another by having honest conversations about identity with a commitment to learning from each other’s experience. The program was built on the labor of Deborah Allen, Emilee O’Brien, Morgan Danyi, and the several student facilitators who have expanded the program in both breadth and depth. The Dins Dialogue program collaborates with and complements Introduction to Intergroup Dialogue (IGD 101), credit-bearing courses that are led by faculty and staff facilitators.