Institute for Democracy and Higher Education

Campus Conflict and Conversation Help Desk

Welcome to the Conflict and Conversation Help Desk, a collaboration between AAC&U’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) and the Sustained Dialogue Institute. We offer free, confidential guidance and troubleshooting for campus educators and practitioners facing difficult, confounding, chilling, frightening, threatening, politicized, and other challenges. Our efforts are designed to meet the moment. We field dilemmas that arise in research, the classroom, decision-making, cocurricular programming, institutional dynamics, and engaging communities.

Challenges We Can Address:

The Help Desk works with individuals, departments, and institutions. We can also create networks of people experiencing your challenges who want to work together as a community.

What We Do:
  • Provide tailored, immediate advice about a time-sensitive situation.
  • Offer coaching on important, but ongoing, challenges.
  • Connect people with networks and learning communities around issues of shared interest.
  • Facilitate collaboration and unity across campus to defend academic freedom.
  • Design workshops tailored for your campus, region, or group.
  • Lead sessions and workshops at already-scheduled conferences or convenings.

All inquiries are private and confidential. Our team of nine experienced scholars and practitioners are ready to help.

Note: Most of these services are free, but we may need to charge for tailored or large projects.

Additional Resources

Here are some external resources to help you navigate your issue, in addition to speaking with a Help Desk consultant. We will update this periodically.

Submit an Inquiry

Our inquiry form is simple. Provide your contact information, select the kind of assistance you need, and click “submit.” We’ll send you an invitation for a private and confidential intake interview that will help us help you.

FAQs

  • This is a collaboration between the AAC&U’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) and the Sustained Dialogue Institute (SDI). It consists of a group of experienced scholars and practitioners ready to provide campus educators with timely, confidential, free advice on how to prevent or manage politically charged challenges to their freedom to teach and learn. Access the Inquiry Form: aacu.org/helpdesk

  • The Help Desk is free and online at aacu.org/helpdesk. At the site, you’ll find an inquiry form, which seeks a minimal amount of information. Our program coordinator then sets up a short intake interview. From that, we assign the Inquiry to members of the Help Desk Team.

  • In approaching challenges, we consider academic freedom; teaching excellence and discussion pedagogies; researcher safety; speech and inclusion; shared governance and building unity on campus; conflict de-escalation and transformation; and shaping healthy campus climates for learning and practicing democracy. The work is nuanced and requires real conversation. We provide direct, timely, personal support rather than links to resources or documents. We’re also free. 

  • No. We can help you understand the pros and cons of litigating, and we can explore alternative approaches, but we do not provide legal advice. If appropriate, we may make referrals to another organization or law firm.

  • Educators employed by a college or university based in the US. This includes faculty (researchers, teaching faculty, tenured, non-tenured, contract, adjunct), staff, leaders, administrators, and graduate students. In addition to individuals, we can also support groups and institutions. We tend to advise working with others on campus, especially if we notice the common concerns of “I don’t know where to find support on my campus” or “I am not sure that the administration has my back.” Educators outside of the US may be interested in reaching out to Scholars at Risk, which works globally. 

  • This initiative grew in response to a range of concerns: 

    • Educators’ freedom to teach, research, and discuss politically charged topics.
    • Faculty and staff self-censorship, censorship, and suppression of learning: especially learning content that, based on disciplinary standards, should be taught.
    • Neutrality challenges and over-compliance that constrict learning or broad perspective taking.
    • The demise of initiatives that support student learning and sense of belonging, especially for historically and currently marginalized groups of students.
    • Chilled climates for robust learning. 

    Sadly, these conditions span across all states, institutional types, disciplines, and roles. Rather than going it alone or relying solely on legal remedies, educators can find support at the Help Desk. Learn more about its founding from Inside Higher Ed.
     

  • Yes. The Help Desk team can help educators navigate externally mandated conditions for teaching and learning in ways that avoid unwanted scrutiny. We also believe that campuses need to unite against infringements on academic freedom and robust teaching, and we can help campuses come together to find the best way forward.

  • The Help Desk prioritizes safety and confidentiality. To begin, educators only provide a small amount of information. We can communicate through a private email or Signal. We maintain only anonymized records. Our internal systems (including Zoom and email) are secure, and we do not write up or publicize individual requests for help. When we report on our work, we do so only at the level of broad themes, without any identifying information. All written records are anonymized.

  • Yes, please! Tell your colleagues to reach us at aacu.org/helpdesk. And you can also reach the organizers at idhe@aacu.org with any questions.

We Want to Hear from You

To get started, fill out the inquiry form. All inquiries are confidential. We’ll work with you to find solutions.

Inquiry Form

Support IDHE

This is a free service, but your donations are mighty welcome! Donations will be split between SDI and IDHE.

Donate