WKU News

WKU Center for Citizenship and Social Justice (CCSJ), in partnership with WKU Office of Sustainability, is set to host a campus conversation about climate change at 4 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 16) in the Mahurin Honors College & International Center’s multipurpose room. Forty students, faculty, staff and community members are registered to attend. The campus conversation about climate change is part of a new series hosted by CCSJ called Embracing our Elephants, utilizing a Deliberative Dialogue model developed by National Issues Forums.

The idea behind the Embracing our Elephants series is that instead of unfruitfully debating politically charged social issues that often divide us, participants come together, engage in a student-moderated dialogue, and seek common ground in addressing such challenges, hence addressing our elephants in the room.

The Deliberative Dialogue model consists of a face-to-face method of communication where a small, diverse group of individuals exchange ideas and opinions in search of the best solution to a problem. This democratic style of dialogue and deliberation helps build civic capacities by teaching participants how to come together and have productive discussions (not debates) about the most complex social issues we encounter today.

A select group of students from the Department of Diversity & Community Studies and the CCSJ, Office of Sustainability, SGA Sustainability Committee, Honors Citizen & Self courses, and Geography & Geology’s Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies (CHNGES) were trained to be moderators of the deliberative dialogue on climate change.

Campus and community members are invited to attend CCSJ’s inaugural deliberative dialogue focusing on climate change. Participants must register at https://www.wku.edu/ccsj/programs/deliberative-dialogue.php.

Contact: Leah Ashwill, leah.ashwill@wku.edu or (270) 745-3217