Why does this matter now?

The Beach Institute for Dialogue and Community (BIDC) was founded as a direct response to a national crisis: the breakdown of reasoned debate and the normalization of disruptive speech (i.e., inviting speakers primarily to provoke outrage rather than foster understanding, or manipulating digital platforms to silence dissenting voices). The drive to attain notoriety across various media has also fed this type of interaction, by encouraging people to espouse binary positions or stay siloed in an identity group. This sort of behavior is leading to the breakdown of our communities. The BIDC aims to address this crisis by developing opportunities for constructive engagement across deep difference within our campus and Long Beach communities. 

Through seminars, public debates, workshops, training events, speaker series, and visiting fellowships that embrace viewpoint diversity and cultivate thoughtful, open inquiry, the BIDC seeks not merely to reduce campus conflict but to restore a culture of curiosity, mutual respect, and freedom of expression, ensuring that our university, and those it touches, remain centers of democratic exchange.