The Difficult Dialogues program at Ohio University has been more successful at provoking constant conversation than it has at gaining consistent funding.
Steve Hays, classics and world religions professor, was involved in the initial writing of a grant to fund the Difficult Dialogues curriculum in 2005.
The Ford Foundation gave $100,000 to the program, funding the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, as well as allowing the classes to have their own residential learning community for the 2006-07 school year.
When the Ford Foundation money ran out in 2008, Hays received support from the 1804 Fund, which paid for discussion leaders and graders. Since then, the College of Arts and Sciences has paid for discussion leaders and graders.
The Difficult Dialogues program is comprised mainly of two classes, Religious Beliefs, which is taught by Hays, and Religion, Gender and Sexuality, which is taught by Patricia Stokes. Race, Law and Religion in America — taught by Patricia Gunn — is also a Difficult Dialogues course, though it has a slightly altered format.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Hays said he and the Classics Department felt students needed to be properly educated about religious conflict, addressing both religious and non-religious people.
“We were not merely concerned with the tensions with Islam, but worldwide issues with various religions,” Hays said.
Guru Khalsa, a 2010 graduate, took two Difficult Dialogues classes during her freshman year and described the experience as “transformative.”
“I ended up becoming more interested in international religion conflict on a global scale,” she said.
Learning how to properly discuss sensitive topics such as religion is applicable during everyday life, Hays said.
“Things tended to descend into name calling,” he said. “The idea is that it is simply transferrable on a basis of experience.”
The process of discussion often enlightened students to their own unconscious biases, which Hays said has been difficult for many.
“You go through that experience a couple times, and you’re pushed to face that about yourself,” he said. “Then you push through it.”
Recognizing the biases in other’s speech is also a learned aspect of the curriculum.
Hays said many students have told him that the Difficult Dialogues curriculum was the most challenging, but also most rewarding, work of their college careers.
Through the years, Hays said he has seen atheists gain faith from the course and devout people lose their grip on that same faith.
“People are all over that map on it,” he said. “But I know it changes their thinking.”
One of the most important aspects of the class is the discussion groups, which during the second hour of class following an hour of lecture.
“In those groups people are expected to honestly discuss their own thinking,” Hays said.
Khlasa added that the group discussion format of the classes was vital to the experience.
“There were devout Christians, atheists and everywhere in-between in those groups,” she said. “These were intentionally diverse constructive conversations on difficult issues that no one really ever talks about.”
Hays said the program will be considerably “stretched out” when the university switches to semesters next fall, and that he does not plan on applying for another grant to fund the program.
“I don’t have the energy,” he said. “I think the Ford Foundation did its job. It gave us seed money.”
Howard Dewald, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the Difficult Dialogues program is important in that it teaches students something of value.
“We want to expose students to a wide variety of new points of discussion,” he said. “It’s so easy for people to not listen to each other or not even be willing to listen to each other.”Dewald said the college is always looking for creative solutions to fully fund important programs.
The College of Arts and Sciences only funds discussion leaders and graders for Hays’ Religious Beliefs class, not the other two classes.
“I tend to think Ohio University should have enough money to develop intense, highly focused academic programs,” Hays said. “We do the best we can. It remains a good program, and I’m proud of it.”
cd234008@ohiou.edu
