Speaking Across Conflict Workshop for Faculty and Staff
2026-01-13 12:00 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Dialogue across Differences Initiative at UCLA is proud to offer an interactive opportunity for staff, administrators, and faculty to delve deeper into a core skill for having more constructive conversations across charged political differences.
Based on the methodology of Resetting the Table, a nationally renowned organization dedicated to building honest and open communication, this workshop will allow participants to practice speaking about divisive political topics using effective skills. The session will be highly interactive, and we ask that participants be present for its entirety. It will be led by Maia Ferdman.
Location: This session will be held in-person only on the UCLA campus and will not be recorded. Location shared upon RSVP.
RSVP link.

The Politics of Migrant Scapegoating: A Conversation on Inclusion and Exclusion
2026-01-29 18:00 - 20:00
Prof. Claire Adida is a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and faculty co-director at the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University. Her research on the topic of immigration and kindness investigates how countries manage new and existing forms of diversity, what exacerbates or alleviates outgroup prejudice and discrimination, and how vulnerable groups navigate discriminatory environments. Prof. Adida will be joined conversation by Prof. Hiroshi Motomura, faculty co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, and Prof. Abel Valenzuela, the dean of UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences.
Register for this event here.

An Interfaith Dialogue on Justice, Forgiveness, and Compassion
2026-02-24 18:00 - 20:00
In our deeply fractured world, religion serves both to connect and offer wisdom and to foster conflict and division. Over the course of centuries, it has been frequently invoked to justify brutal violence, but can it be an effective tool to advance justice? To explore different perspectives on the topic of faith, forgiveness, and justice, we will be joined by a distinguished panel of religious leaders: Father Greg Boyle, Rabbi Sharon Brous, Valarie Kaur, and Imam Dr. Jihad Turk.
Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program. Rabbi Sharon Brous is the senior and founding Rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish spiritual community in Los Angeles. Valarie Kaur is a civil rights leader and activist, filmmaker, educator, best-selling author, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, a movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. Imam Dr. Jihad Turk is the founding President of Bayan Islamic Graduate School, a preeminent Muslim institution of higher education.
Event time TBD. Registration link coming soon.

Speaking Across Conflict Workshop for Faculty and Staff
2026-04-09 12:00 - 14:30
The Dialogue across Differences Initiative at UCLA is proud to offer an interactive opportunity for staff, administrators, and faculty to delve deeper into a core skill for having more constructive conversations across charged political differences.
Based on the methodology of Resetting the Table, a nationally renowned organization dedicated to building honest and open communication, this workshop will allow participants to practice speaking about divisive political topics using effective skills. The session will be highly interactive, and we ask that participants be present for its entirety. It will be led by Maia Ferdman.
Location: This session will be held in-person only on the UCLA campus and will not be recorded. Location shared upon RSVP.
RSVP here.

Symposium on Sound and Hate
2026-04-10 10:00 - 16:00 | Schoenberg Music Building, Lani Hall
This half-day symposium at UCLA will examine the intersection of sound and hate, highlighting how auditory experiences can propagate, resist, and reflect social animosities. Bringing together diverse perspectives from sound studies and related fields, the event will deepen understanding of how sound influences, challenges, and shapes the dynamics of hate in society. The keynote address, “Sectarian Reckonings: The Politics of Voice and Song in Post-Authoritarian Syria,” will be delivered by Shayna M. Silverstein, Associate Professor in the Department of Performance Studies and faculty member of the Middle Eastern and North African Studies program at Northwestern University. Her talk explores public reckonings with sectarian violence in Syria from the 2010s conflict to the precarious present, offering guided listening to sonic practices—from chant and song to rock and livestream audio culture—that respond to sectarianized hate, violence, and animosity. Additional speakers include UCLA School of Music Associate Professor Jenny Johnson, UCLA Initiative to Study Hate (ISH) Research Manager Dr. Amalia Mora, and the symposium’s curator Dr. Kathryn Huether (ISH and Leve Center for Jewish Studies Postdoctoral Fellow-Antisemitism Studies).

Bridging and Belonging with Professor john powell
2026-04-15 18:00 - 20:00
Professor john powell is a renowned scholar and advocate in the areas of civil rights, structural racism, housing, constitutional law, equality, democracy, and belonging. He is the director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, where he holds the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion and is a Professor of Law, Ethnic Studies, and African American Studies. Prof. powell has served as the National Legal Director of the ACLU and is well-known for the development of an “opportunity-based” model for thinking about affordable housing, racialized space, and the many ways that housing influences other opportunity domains including education, health, health care, and employment.
Event time TBD. Registration link coming soon.
