What is the history of the Campus Bridging Project?
The Campus Bridging Project is an ongoing initiative of the Othering and Belonging Institute supported by the Haas Jr. Fund. Our work is motivated by this central question: What does it take to bring the UC Berkeley campus community together across acknowledged differences?
We began this work by investigating where divides (or breaking* ) are happening on Berkeley’s campus and asking how students navigate these cleavages? When speaking with various communities on campus, the Campus Bridging Project identified some of these key concerns. Students highlighted the lack of designated spaces, representation in faculty, and funding as leading to feelings of exclusion.
Along with investigating instances of breaking on campus we also studied where and how individuals and groups were working to come together, what bridging* work was already being done. With this grounding in instances of both breaking and bridging, the project then worked to help train students and student leaders on the bridging framework, support groups already engaged in bridging work, and develop new programs. Some of the project’s past work has led us to work and partner with the Student Advocate’s Office, Berkeley Student Farms, poet Danez Smith, the Sustained Dialogue Institute, and many others.**
When we began interviewing students about their experiences on campus, respondents would often share stories of attending events, going to classes, or simply existing on Berkeley’s campus and having their presence and belonging as Berkeley students questioned. By doing the work to bridge diverse groups on campus, to invite folks into considering “a larger we”, this project aims to be part of the effort to make UC Berkeley a place where all community members experience a sense of belonging.***
Want to keep up with updates from the Campus Bridging Project? Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram. You can also read more about the work of the Campus Bridging Project in this article, "Bridging divides: from anger and mistrust to belonging — and hope."
The Campus Bridging Project is not affiliated with the Berkeley Bridging Fellowship.
Media & Presentations
Connecting across differences can be scary. But this trans poet says it’s worth it (Berkeley News) | June 13, 2023
In the summer of 2023 current Campus Bridging Project Specialist Julia McKeown was profiled for Berkeley News by Anne Brice. Following their first year working the project this interview explores McKeown's own relationship to bridging work, their various diverse identities, and how they came to work on this project for OBI.
Depolarization Day Video Recap | April 6, 2024
This video, produced by the Social Cohesion Lab, offers a peek into Depolarization Day April 2024. This Saturday afternoon gathering included featured excerpts of the documentary films List(e)n and True, False, Hot, Cold, lessons on bridging and depolarization frameworks from OBI and Social Cohesion Lab facilitators, and conversations with expert guest speakers Arlie Hochschild and Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton.
Video: Belonging Resident Company performs "Bridges of Sand" | April 26, 2024
At the 2024 OBI conference the Campus Bridging Project partnered with the Belonging Resident Company to create original performance pieces representing key concepts and themes in OBI's frameworks. In this video the Campus Bridging Project Specialist Julia McKeown performs their original poem Bridges of Sand with the Belonging Resident Company.
Bridging divides: from anger and mistrust to belonging — and hope (Berkeley News) | Sept. 23, 2024
The Campus Bridging Project Assistant Rena Lu and Project Specialist Julia McKeown as well as john powell himself were included in this survey-like article of bridging initiatives on Berkeley's campus. In this article the CBP team strove to emphasize our vision of bridging which emphasizes the importance of narrative sharing and storytelling, vulnerability, and bravery necessary for the work while also challenging structural inequities on college campuses that make bridging difficult.
Video Presentation: Julia McKeown before the Berkeley Managers' Forum | Oct. 2024
The Campus Bridging Project Specialist Julia McKeown was asked to give an introductory lesson on bridging at the UC Berkeley People and Culture's October 2024 Managers Forum. In this video McKeown shares a story of their own reticence to bridge as well as contextualizing how the work of the Campus Bridging Project is responding to this heightened moment of breaking on Berkeley's campus.
Upcoming Events
Long Bridges
Are you part of or do work with groups in deep division? Have you noticed groups on campus that are breaking more frequently than bridging? If this sounds like you, please fill out our Interest Form. We’d love an opportunity to bring this highly successful and transformative program to them and you!
Bridging & Belonging Course
This course will focus on how we, as interconnected community members, can help bridge the gap from “othering” to “belonging.” Bridging calls us to imagine a larger, more inclusive "we." One of the ways we can bridge with one another is to engage in healthy dialogue, which requires us to listen deeply. You can find weekly recaps of the class on our Instagram (@campusbridgingproject)
Artwork provided by artist Gustaf Ö Hjalmars as part of the Bridging & Belonging open call - a creative collaboration between Fine Acts and the Democracy & Belonging Forum, an initiative from the Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) at the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more at fineacts.co/belonging.
- * For a deeper understanding of the project’s grounding frameworks as well as helpful definitions of: breaking, bridging, belonging and more we recommend checking out the rest of OBI’s website and especially the following podcast with john a. powell: https://soundcloud.com/otheringandbelonging
- ** More information about these past events can be found in the sidebar. Information about current and upcoming events can be found above.
- ***For a deeper understanding of the project’s grounding frameworks as well as helpful definitions of: breaking, bridging, belonging and more we recommend checking out the rest of OBI’s website and especially the following podcast with john a. powell: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-developing-shared-vocabulary
