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October 15, 2021
College and University Students

Join the National Week of Deliberation
Registration is now open for the college student-focused National Week of Deliberation online forum series. 
 
Experience a full week of online Common Ground for Action (CGA) deliberative forums exclusively for college students. The forum series aims to connect college students from across the country in deliberation in a way that maximizes the opportunity for students to hear different views and opinions from peers living and attending college in different parts of the nation. Any student from any college can register to participate. Forums are moderated by college students, making this a peer-driven deliberative experience.
 
Here’s how it works:
 
There are five forums scheduled during the week – one per day at various times. You can direct your students to participate in a forum date of your choice or you can have them participate in a forum that best fits their schedule. 
 
Monday November 1st at 7p ET/4p PT using the NIFI/NASPA “Free Speech and the Inclusive Campus” issue guide

Tuesday November 2nd at 8p ET/5p PT using the NIFI/NAAEE “Climate Choices" issue guide
 
Wednesday November 3rd at 7p ET/4p PT using the NIFI policing reform draft issue advisory

Friday November 5th at 3p ET/12p PT using the NIFI “Elections: How Should We Encourage and SafeguardVoting?” issue guide
 
Saturday November 6th at 12:30p ET/9:30a PT using the NIFI/UpToUs “Youth and Opportunity” issue guide. 
 
The main registration page is here: REGISTRATION PAGE

If you want to invite your students to participate, the easiest way is to copy and paste the information on the registration page into a Canvas/Blackboard/other LMS announcement or assignment. 
 
The day before the forum, registered students will receive an email with a link to the forum lobby and a copy of the issue guide. To get the most out of the forum experience, we strongly encourage participants to read the issue discussion guide and watch the introductory video prior to the forum. We will be moving participants into forums manually so we can have as much geographic and campus size diversity as possible. Please encourage your students to register using their university emails so we can better place and manage forum size and diversity. 
 
I hope to host as many of your students in a CGA deliberative forum as possible. Please send as many as you think would benefit from deliberating to this event.  
 
Want to participate? Got questions? Have some students who'd like to moderate an online forum? Contact Kara Dillard at kdillard@nifi.org.
About Deliberation in National Issues Forums
National Issues Forums issue guides are designed to stimulate public deliberation, which is a way of making decisions together that is different from discussion or debate. The purpose of deliberative forums is to inform collective action. As citizens, we have to make decisions together before we can act together, whether with other citizens or through legislative bodies. Acting together is essential for addressing problems that can't be solved by one group of people or one institution. These problems have more than one cause and therefore have to be met by a number of mutually reinforcing initiatives with broad public participation. 

About the National Issues Forums Institute

The National Issues Forums Institute's mission is to promote the use of public deliberation in schools, colleges, civic organizations, and religious institutions in the United States. The institute's board members are volunteers drawn from leaders in government, colleges and universities, libraries, civic organizations, the media, and medicine. For more information visit www.nifi.org.