Join the partnership and build skills in dialogue and disagreement.
The Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership (ICDP) equips undergraduates with the habits and virtues needed to engage meaningfully across difference. Through a year-long, cross-institutional fellowship, students from diverse colleges and universities train together in the practice of dialogue, learn to facilitate conversations across political lines, and help cultivate healthier cultures of disagreement on their own campuses. ICDP also supports faculty and staff through professional development that brings these same skills into classrooms and student-facing spaces. With new partners joining through the Educating Character Initiative, ICDP is building a national network of institutional pods dedicated to fostering civil, thoughtful, and agency-affirming dialogue.
Application Requirements
Beginning in 2026–2027, the Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership will grow its national footprint by welcoming new institutional partners into a broader network of dialogue-focused pods. Supported by a grant from the Educating Character Initiative, this expansion will allow more campuses to offer a year-long fellowship grounded in the practice of meaningful dialogue across difference.
Successful applicants will send up to 2 faculty/staff to the 3-day ICDP summer convention in early August 2026 at the Prindle Institute for Ethics at no cost to themselves or their institution.
Each new pod will also be eligible for up to $5,000 in seed funding for the first year that they implement the ICDP program. Funds may be used for a variety of costs related to establishing the program, but may not be paid directly to students or be used for indirect costs. (More information about allowable costs are here.)
New pods are also encouraged to apply for their own Educating Character Initiative grant, which could provide further support for the program.