Campus Discourse Project

Students engaged in meaningful conversation at FIRE Let's Talk event

Looking for tips to put together popular gatherings for you and your fellow students? Or hoping national partners can add to your offerings? We've got both.

First, dive into Think Again Academy

Our handy guide to the tools you'll need to create student programs like the ones we've been organizing at UVA. You'll see templates for events like "Disagree with a Professor," "Low Stakes Hot Takes," "Food for Thought," and our annual Student Oratory Contest. Each has step-by-step instructions, PDFs of fliers and hand-outs, and suggested budgets, and you can download our templates .

Consider FIRE's Let's Talk program

Which provides you with tools to work toward a more intellectually open campus environment. Here's a link to their Let's Talk Start-up Guide , a toolkit for Let's Talk Leaders , and some fun Civil Discourse Games to try.

Get ideas from all kinds of events already happening on campuses

From Citizens and Scholars interactive map of "Unscripted Campus Conversations" from across the United States. Students like you are having productive conversations about the issues facing our communities – meeting in everything from dormitories to classrooms to large auditoriums. Explore a myriad of gatherings great and small here .

Invite Braver Angels to your campus

Over 120 colleges and universities now host Braver Angels Debates. Braver Angels Debates are immersive and highly participatory, inviting everyone to express themselves freely in a collective search for truth. The goal of a Braver Angels Debate? To get the most shy person in the room to speak up. Learn more here .

Students engaged in thoughtful discussion in academic setting

Building Partnerships with Other Student Organizations

In order to build attendance – and enthusiasm – for your events, consider partnering with other student organizations on campus, such as debate clubs, student council, fraternities and sororities, University Democrats, and College Republicans. Often these student organizations can be helpful with everything from posting fliers and manning registration tables to recruiting participants and serving as discussion leaders.

In addition, BridgeUSA is building new campus chapters nationwide, working to help students "stand up for dialogue over division." BridgeUSA chapters are student-led clubs on campus that welcome students into constructive discussion. Discussions are not meant to change one's mind, but encourage participants to seek an understanding of different perspectives. Currently there are BridgeUSA chapters on nearly 100 campuses, and here's how to start a chapter on your campus.

Promote and Market Student Events

Disagree with a Professor event poster featuring graduation cap design

Promoting and marketing often makes or breaks a student event. Our experience has been that while a popular professor can make all the difference in attracting students to an event, more often it's peer-to-peer recruiting that is most effective. Consider using a mix of these marketing tools:

Many students rely on communications from the Student Affairs office for what's happening on campus. Always submit your event information to Student Affairs and ask that they help promote the event.
Social media – especially Instagram – seems particularly effective in reaching students. Ask other student groups such as debate clubs, student council, fraternities and sororities, University Democrats, and College Republicans to post on their social media feeds about your upcoming events.
In addition to having students register for events in order to get an accurate head-count for seating and food, collect student emails at event registration. This allows you to build a good student invitation list for future events.
There's always the old-fashioned way: post event fliers near high-traffic areas on campus. Don't forget the freshman dorms, to reach students who may have more time on their hands than older, more involved students.

Disagree with a Professor promotional poster with sandwich graphics and event details

Our advice is to always offer free food at student events – whether it's a meal or just snacks, and be sure to put that on your fliers and social media posts! We've found that advertising that there will be NO KALE SALAD SERVED seems to result in a bigger turnout.

Students and faculty celebrating achievements with awards in university setting