The Viewpoints Fellowship is designed to strengthen student leadership and dialogue skills
Students and staff from across campus gathered in the McBride Gathering Space on May 6 for “Curiosity Can Change Our Campus: Viewpoints Dialogue Dinner,” the capstone event for Elon University’s 2025-26 Viewpoints Fellowship cohort.
The event marked the culmination of a year-long fellowship focused on helping student leaders strengthen their skills in dialogue, curious disagreement and civic engagement. Through workshops, retreats, and sessions with peer mentors, Elon’s eight inaugural fellows explored how to engage difficult conversations with openness, then brought those practices back to the organizations and communities they lead.
Fellows practiced facilitation skills, reflected on their own perspectives and assumptions, and learned strategies for navigating disagreement in ways that foster connection rather than division. They also collaborated with students from other institutions, including Dartmouth, expanding conversations beyond Elon’s campus and exchanging ideas about how dialogue-based leadership can strengthen student organizations and campus culture.
For many fellows, the experience directly shaped the way they approached leadership and community engagement within their organizations.
“I learned a lot about leadership throughout the experience,” said Omar Khamis of the Arabic Language Organization. “Having the training during the fall retreat was a very special experience that allowed me to workshop ideas and practice the skills that I was learning, but the best part was applying those skills in my fall and spring events with my club, the Arabic Language Organization. I had so much fun meeting new people from the fellowship from Dartmouth, and from Elon’s campus as well. Exchanging ideas to help each other’s organizations was definitely a highlight.”
During the May 6 capstone dinner, attended by dozens of participants, attendees rotated through a series of exercises and small group conversations facilitated by the fellows. Using role plays and case studies, students practiced navigating disagreement with curiosity rather than defensiveness. Conversations ranged from lighthearted topics, such as dairy milk versus plant-based milk and food traditions, to deeper discussions around climate change, AI, public prayer and racial identity.
The capstone event reflected many of the lessons fellows had been developing throughout the year: listening actively, asking better questions, and remaining engaged even when conversations become uncomfortable or complex.
“I believe that the event went very well,” said fellow Nailah Ware. “Even discussing with other students that came to our event, I think that they definitely understood what curious disagreement is and different tactics of what we can do in those instances where we have curious disagreement.”
Hillary Zaken, director of multifaith programming and engagement at the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, and the campus advisor for the program, said the fellowship encourages students to see curiosity as an essential skill for navigating the campus and the larger world.
“Curiosity creates the possibility for connection, even in moments of disagreement,” Zaken said. “At Elon, students meet others with different identities, worldviews, and even opposing viewpoints, and leading with curiosity can break down barriers created by preconceived notions. Dialogue is not about changing someone’s mind in a single conversation. It is about building the skills and relationships that allow people to stay engaged with one another across difference.”
At a time when many campuses and communities are grappling with polarization, the Viewpoints Fellowship offered Elon students practical tools for dialogue and relationship-building. Rather than avoiding disagreement, fellows spent the year learning how to approach it with curiosity, empathy, and accountability.
As the fellowship wraps up for the academic year, its influence continues through the student leaders who participated, the organizations they shape, and the conversations they helped foster across Elon’s campus.
About the Fellowship:
The Viewpoints Fellowship centers on three core questions: why it is difficult to approach disagreement with curiosity, why it remains essential and how students can build that approach within their communities. By combining leadership development with hands-on application, the fellowship prepares students to lead more effectively in an increasingly complex and divided world.
The 2025-26 Viewpoints Fellows were: Jacob Bradshaw of Milk Club, Madeline Mitchener of Students for Peace and Justice, Aiden Prucker of American Studies Club, Sasha Stanley of Divine Embers, Nailah Ware of Limitless, Omar Khamis of the Arabic Language Organization, Hannah Wagner of Sierra Student Coalition and Fatmata Bah of Elon Muslim Society.