Deliberative Citizenship Initiative

Building Democracy One Conversation at a Time

D Teams

 

In order to bring together small groups of students, faculty, staff, and community members, the DCI regularly organizes Deliberative “D” Teams on campus and in the broader community.  These D Teams consist of individuals who are interested in engaging with one another over multiple sessions.  Participants will be able to get to know each over time and have the opportunity to engage more deeply with one another on the issues they discuss.

Sign-ups for Spring 2022 D Teams will be available until February 16, with the first D Team meetings taking place in early March. Some D Teams may meet in person while others continue to meet in a virtual format. D Teams will meet every three weeks for two hours from March to April, for a total of 3 semester meetings. The topics for Spring 2022 D Teams will include abortion, guns, and college admissions policies; past topics have included healthcare, environmental challenges, local legacies of slavery, the Covid-19 pandemic, economic mobility, and more.

This year participants will be able to choose between “multi-topic” teams that cover each of these three topics (one per meeting) and “single topic” teams that focus in more depth on one of these three topics (abortion, guns, or college admission policies) for all three sessions, with the goal of producing a statement at the end about what the group agrees and disagrees on.

When signing up, interested individuals will once again have an opportunity to state their preference for the type of D Team — BridgeBuilder and SkillBuilder Teams — they would like to join.

SkillBuilder D Teams focus more on the skills of dialogue and deliberation and may not have as great a diversity of views as the BridgeBuilder D Teams. To join a BridgeBuilder Team, which are designed to include and engage a broader diversity of perspectives, participants need to sign up with at least one individual who is ideologically or demographically different from themselves. Both teams – like all DCI activities — will continue to explore both areas of agreement and disagreement on important issues.

The DCI is also launching a related but new “Bring a Friend” option for both types of teams. If you are interested in joining but are hesitant because you might not know anyone in the group or won’t share important things in common with other participants, you can sign up with a friend who you do share something in common with. You’ll have an option in the application to specify this person’s name and we will put you on the same D team together (assuming you have overlapping availabilities).

To learn more and sign up to join a D Team, click on the links below:

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