Listening Tables Core Student Fellowship
Exploring student-led formats to navigate conflicts and polarizing issues with mutual respect and empathy.
The Trust Collaboratory and the Center for the Core Curriculum at Columbia University collaborated to offer fellowships to students in Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization to lead Listening Tables during the Spring 2025 semester.
Background
Since its inception in the fall 2024 semester, the Trust Collaboratory’s Listening Tables initiative has provided an alternative format for the Columbia community to navigate conflicts with mutual respect and empathy by discussing difficult and deeply polarizing issues such as the war in Gaza and the 2024 Presidential election. As students enter into the dialogue, they participate in an important democratic exercise: They form an understanding of the differences in opinion, experience, and identity in our midst, and they begin to build trust and community with other participants who may hold starkly opposing views.
In Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization, students encounter perspectives and experiences different from their own through the discussion of literary and philosophical texts. These courses foster community and provide spaces for students to practice the skills and habits needed for participation in civic life.
Fellowship activities
The Listening Tables Core Student Fellowship Program gave students the opportunity to host Listening Tables and shape the direction of the project by experimenting with new formats and locations in the spring 2025 semester. Fellows participated in workshops led by faculty, where they received training in conflict resolution and reflected on ideas from their Core classes. Throughout the project, Fellows used photovoice, combining visual records and narrative to document their experiences. At the end of the semester, they shared their work and recommendations for future Listening Tables at a mini-conference.
Students selected for this program received a stipend of $750.