Our Team
Each Dialogue features thought leaders who have moved the dial on public policy. They are legislators, attorneys taking cases to the United States Supreme Court, and scholars who advise lawmakers in state capitols and the US Congress. These established experts are joined by esteemed members of the university or local community, who moderate the discussion.
At each #TMD, our Dialogue Catalysts and your school's student winners give their insights on making the world more tolerant. Then we open it up for audience discussion. The scholarship winners’ essays form the foundation for the Dialogue, making each unique to the host university and community.
Dialogue Catalysts
Dialogue Moderators
Law and Dialogue Ambassadors
Public Deliberation and Engagement Experts
Advisory Board
Are you an undergraduate student interested in interning as a Law and Dialogue Ambassador while earning class credit at the same time?
Partnering Organizations
The Tolerance Means Dialogues act cooperatively with ongoing initiatives at our partnering host institutions. For example, at Loras College, we have partnered with the Intercultural Programs Office. At the University of Pittsburgh, our inaugural Dialogue became part of the University’s Year of Diversity.
The brainchild of Professors Robin Wilson and Bill Eskridge, the Dialogues consciously partner with stakeholders in the community who care deeply about how differences in society may be more constructively embraced. These groups range from advocates for religious groups and people of faith to groups seeking nondiscrimination protections for members of the LGBT community.
LORAS COLLEGE—INTERCULTURAL PROGRAMS OFFICE
Loras College supports a multicultural understanding that weaves the Loras College commitment to diversity into the educational, spiritual, academic, cultural, and social fabric of the campus. We fulfill this mission by providing leadership in education that celebrates individual differences of people within the Loras and Dubuque community by providing support for the tapestry of ideas and experience to which each person contributes to its overall environment. In facilitation of such endeavors, we especially encourage students of minority and international backgrounds to participate in its support effort focused on mentoring and leadership development to strengthen their overall educational experience.
THE FEDERALIST Society for Law and Public Policy
The Tolerance Means Dialogues have partnered with local chapters of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy at Concordia University, the University of Idaho College of Law, the University of Illinois, Wayne State University, and Arizona State University. The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Society seeks both to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities.
MALONE UNIVERSITY—WORLDVIEW FORUM
The intent of the Worldview Forum Series is to provide the community with the opportunity to practice critical thinking and civil dialogue in the comparison of various worldviews in a professionally moderated, academic environment. It is expected that the forums will help those who attend learn to identify the constitute elements of differing worldviews as well as their implications upon belief and practice. Past topics have included discussions between Muslims and Christians, the commonalities between the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant faiths, just-war and pacifism, homosexuality, pagan religions, and much more.
1st Amendment Partnership
The mission of the 1st Amendment Partnership is to promote and protect religious freedom for people of all faiths. We represent the common voice of our partnering faith communities that encompass over 80 million Americans. We focus on public policies and education that recognize the profound contribution of faith and religious freedom to the common good.
The Templeton Religion Trust, in collaboration with the John Templeton Foundation and the Templeton World Charity, focuses on improving not only the lives of individuals, but, through impacting individual lives, also improving the world. By encouraging curiosity about such things as the universe, purpose, meaning, altruism, and veracity, the aim is to inspire all people to inspect their beliefs and their place in the world, and to motivate people to live lives that are meaningful.
Cline Center, University of Illinois
The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research is an interdisciplinary research unit of the University of Illinois’ College of Liberal Arts and Sciences directed by Scott Althaus, the Merriam Professor of Political Science and Communication. Its mission is to transform raw information into knowledge that advances human flourishing. By extracting structured data from unstructured text at extreme scales, the Cline Center bridges the gap between engineers developing new technologies and social scientists and humanists working to understand and address pressing societal challenges. The Center currently supports dozens of research projects in a wide array of disciplines—including projects on news discourse and public deliberation related to war, civil disobedience, inequality, and immigration.
OUT!LAW
Out!Law educates members regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in a positive and productive learning atmosphere; promotes a law school environment free from discrimination, bias and intolerance. Out!Law encourages both LGBT and heterosexual students to participate in this learning process. The Tolerance Means Dialogues have partnered with chapters at the University of Illinois, St. Thomas University, and Arizona State University.
Technology Services Social Media Lab
The Technology Services Social Media Lab is a research support unit of the University of Illinois directed by Joseph Yun, Leader of Social Media Analytics. It endeavors to make social media data and advanced computational analysis methods available for researchers to use regardless of their technical skills. This is accomplished through designing intuitive graphic user interfaces for data collection and analysis and through partnerships with vendors. The Social Media Lab also provides consulting to help researchers design projects that are both effective and ethical in their use of social media data.
CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY
The Tolerance Means Dialogues have partnered with local chapters of the Christian Legal Society at St. Thomas and the University of Illinois. Christian Legal Society is dedicated to serving Jesus Christ through the practice and study of law, the defense of religious freedom and life, and the provision of legal aid to the needy. The St. Thomas School of Law Chapter is co-hosting the dialogue at St. Thomas and the University of Illinois College of Law chapter is co-hosting a Fall 2018 dialogue on Constitution Day.
J. REUBEN CLARK LAW SOCIETY
We are a society of attorneys and law students who strive to use our legal education and training to do good. We affirm the strength brought to the law by a lawyer's personal religious conviction. We strive through public service and professional excellence to promote fairness and virtue founded upon the rule of law.
AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
ACS believes that the Constitution is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We interpret the Constitution based on its text and against the backdrop of history and lived experience. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars and many others, we work to uphold the Constitution in the 21st Century by ensuring that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives.