With the election of Trump, opinions have never been more divided. For some, the name Trump causes some to roll the eyes while others are ready to defend. Instead of talking, conversations end in yelling and relationships get strained.

“Dialogues are to get people to start talking to each other, if something comes up in conversation, the barriers go up, people get defensive, then what happens?” said Marcia Purdy, coordinator of Dialogues on Diversity and Instructor in the School of Education at Iowa State.

Dialogues on Diversity launched in the late nineties at the Women’s Center, with this year being its 20th anniversary. Currently, it is a one credit, half-semester course that is offered in the Human Sciences department. It is aimed to get students to start talking, as well as listening in a controlled environment, with facilitators managing the discussion.

“It is an exploration of diversity within the context of the Iowa State community. To be able to think through that interaction. We want students to be able to think critically and to be able to connect to that,” said Purdy.

Topics that are covered in class are hard-hitting, getting most students in a diverse community heated. Race, sexual orientation and gender identity are few of the topics covered in the seven weeks. Purdy said that a topic to be covered this semester is the #metoo movement and how it affects both men and women.

“We think in terms of ourselves. Sometimes we feel, “it doesn’t impact me, I’m here in the Midwest,” so we push it out of Iowa State and say that it was just a Hollywood campaign,” said Purdy.

Sections are held at twenty seats per section, with five sections being available to regular students and one section for the Greek community. Each section meets once a week for two hours.

Moving forward, Purdy sees Dialogue on Diversity growing and having intergroup dialogue. Each section would be on one specific topic with the class being split into two groups. Purdy hopes to expand and add more sections for each semester.

According to Purdy, the feedback she receives is rarely negative. Students consistently report satisfaction and wish that it was a requirement for all students to take. Some are so impacted that they share their discussions with family, coworkers and friends. Which, to Purdy, is important to be able to see reason in another’s argument even if it isn’t agreeable.

“We are bombarded with messages from society that aren’t real, it’s where we get negative stereotypes. It’s to place those stereotypes and those social messages to the side for at least two hours,” said Purdy.