COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS INITIATIVE
In response to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack and the alarming rise in antisemitism across the U.S., The Nantucket Project (TNP) launched a bold and timely initiative: Courageous Conversations: Israel and Palestine.
What We've Done
“Israel/Palestine: Living on the Third Rail”
Our documentary which captures U.S. students confronting the region’s complexity firsthand during a post-October 7 trip to the Middle East.
Pilot Course at UNC-Chapel Hill (Spring 2025)
Developed and co-taught a first-of-its-kind semester-long course focused on courageous conversations. Students learned to lead difficult dialogue across divides.
Results:
- 25+ students transformed into bridge-builders, each leading projectsthat reached 1,000+ peers
- Launched Courageous Conversations Fellowship summer 2025
- UNC faculty and administration are now integrating this work more broadly across campus
- The model is attracting national interest culiminating in a two-day seminar training faculty members in summer 2025
What Comes Next
We are now scaling our impact through:
- National Convening at UNC – (Nov. 18th & 19th, 2025)
- Bringing together leaders in higher ed, civic dialogue and philanthroy to experience the model firsthand and commit to expanding its reach.
- Faculty Training Expansion
- Grow from this summer’s 40 faculty to dozens more accross the country. We are partnering with Heterodox Academy, Campus Compact and Citizens & Scholars to scale.
- Summer Intensive 2026
Expand from our 2025 faculty training seminars and Courageous Conversation Fellowship (21 students) to a 10-day residential program for 15 campuses. Participants will take the course, travel to the region, and train to lead our model class, and dialogue more broadly, on their own campuses.
- Film and Road Show
Finalize the film for national distribution. Travel to key campuses to screen it, model dialogue, and inspire local action.
Why it matters
This work is already changing lives. Students who once avoided the topic are now confident leaders in bridging divides, speaking up, crossing lines of difference, and being serious about solutions. Faculty are energized. Administrators are supportive. And the impact extends far beyond the campus: what begins in higher education doesn’t stay there—habits of dialogue, or their absence, follow graduates into workplaces, communities, and civic life.