Ellie Park, Senior Photographer

Yale has launched its new Cultivating Conversation Fellowship — a semester-long series of workshops aimed to help students engage with different perspectives across political lines, according to Kimberly Goff-Crews, vice president for university life. 

The inaugural cohort of roughly 120 students gathered for the first time on Tuesday. The kickoff meeting consisted of speeches from Yale administrators, including Goff-Crews, and “dialogue sessions,” in which the groups of students discussed “conversation norms” to guide discourse for the rest of the program. 

Annie Rappeport, Yale’s associate director of community dialogue, who led one of the dialogue sessions, said that the program hopes to foster dialogue between students in a moment of divisive politics. 

“Conversation is one of the few tools we still have to address today’s polarization,” Rappeport said. “In an era where divisions can feel intractable, dialogue offers the possibility of compromise, mutual understanding and the preservation of common ground.”

Cultivating free speech is a key issue for the University this year. At a first-year opening assembly in August, both Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and University President Maurie McInnis advised first years to engage with challenging viewpoints. 

The beginning of the fellowship also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Woodward Report, which established Yale’s free speech guidelines in 1975. The University has advertised the anniversary on its social media accounts. 

Recently, Yale jumped up 97 spots in a prominent ranking of the state of free speech on college campuses.

The new fellowship is part of the broader Cultivating Conversation initiative first launched in August 2024 by Belonging at Yale, a five-year diversity initiative that later concluded in June 2025. As part of the initiative, Yale hosted various lectures and events throughout the 2024-2025 academic year designed to equip students with communication tools. 

Grayson Hoy GRD ’28, a third-year graduate student in the fellowship, cited his participation in and enjoyment of last year’s programming as reasons for applying to the fellowship this year. 

“As the world seems to feel more and more divisive, it’s definitely important to be able to see someone’s humanity,” Hoy said. “That’s the first step in being able to fully understand their perspectives.”

Other students said they hope the fellowship will give them a chance to engage with a diverse set of political opinions. 

Maya Viswanathan ’28, another student fellow, said that the fellowship is providing her with a unique opportunity to have discussions with people who have different perspectives. 

“That’s something that I’ve always been interested in,” she said. “But I didn’t always feel like what the best space to be able to do that would be.”

Arrow Zhang ’26 said she was looking forward to connecting with people from many different backgrounds.

“In the various instances where I was able to connect with people, I felt so happy,” she said. “I would like to hone this sort of skill, but in a more official format where there is someone moderating or everyone is here for the purpose of having these sorts of conversations.”

During a dialogue session, students were asked to identify a feature of an unproductive or unkind conversation they previously endured. 

Carla Melaco LAW ’27 answered that she’s found people often conform to the majority opinion, rather than present a controversial take. 

“Sometimes in conversations, there’s this kind of groupthink aspect to it where everyone converges on the same point, and then, people don’t want to disagree,” she said. “I think that’s problematic.”

The Cultivating Conversation fellows will next meet for their first workshop on Sept. 23.