Join the Unify Challenge College Bowl: A Civil Discourse Opportunity for Students

Unify America

Would you like to get your students talking about important issues this fall? Do you want to help foster civil discourse on campus?

Join us for the Unify Challenge!

This fall, the Center for Community Engagement is partnering with Unify America to bring the Unify Challenge College Bowl to campus. This innovative program gives students the opportunity to step out of their "bubble" and connect with peers from other institutions, allowing them to experience the power of different perspectives. The Unify America team provides comprehensive support, guidance and data to ensure a quality, safe experience.

What Is It?

The Unify Challenge College Bowl pairs college students with peers from other colleges across the nation for guided, one-on-one conversations on a range of current issues. Each online session lasts about an hour and includes an orientation video with guidance on fostering meaningful conversations, disagreeing respectfully and engaging in productive discourse.

Who Can Participate?

All U of A students are invited to participate — either individually or through a class or club. We encourage faculty to sign up their classes and staff advisers to sign up their student groups to take part in this meaningful experience. The Unify team will provide classroom materials, facilitation guides, live support during the sessions, and data and impact reports to make it easy for you to integrate this into your curriculum or group activities.

When?

Unify Challenge College Bowl
Sept. 24, 25 and 26, and Oct. 1, 2, 3 and 9. Timeslots are offered twice a day at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT. There are a few daytime slots as well.

The Deep Dive
Oct. 22, 24 and 29 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT (topics include guns in America, identity-based hate, and democracy and elections).

How to Sign Up

Faculty and group sponsors: Register here
Students: Register here

Safety Measures

Rest assured that all conversations are private, with no names or contact information shared. Direct support for students is available during the conversations via live chat with a Unify staff member. Students can also easily exit the conversation if they feel unsafe at any time.

Want to learn more? Visit Unify America to see testimonials from students and faculty, view participant data and learn more from the Unify team. Please contact cce@uark.edu with any questions.

• Video: College Bowl Details for Professors
• Student Reflection Videos from Spring 2024
• Unify Challenge College Bowl (1 min.)
• Unify Challenge College Bowl Slide Deck
• Professor Toolkit