I hope that you will share with your campus leaders a new tabletop simulation from the Divided Community Project — and maybe even offer to use your dispute resolution skills to facilitate the simulation and debrief for them. Your campus leaders can use “Tranquil Springs University” to check their readiness for a range of challenges they may face on campus this spring or coming fall.

The simulation instructions ask each participant to read a different portion of Leading a Divided Campus: Ideas and Illustrations, now in its second edition. It applies dispute resolution concepts to help leaders respond effectively to current issues. During the simulation debrief, campus leaders can identify any additional preparations would make their actions more constructive in worst-case scenarios. The simulation can be stopped after 60 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the debrief. By the way, the project recommends that you avoid using this simulation with your students, as the emotions raised by its fictional facts will be too intense for a class context.

As usual with Divided Community Project simulations, upon request, the project will send you the facilitator’s instructions, confidential instructions for participants, and powerpoint slides to introduce the simulation and announce breaking news. To be sure that they get these to you quickly, please email both Bill Froehlich and Nancy Rogers, Froehlich.28@osu.edu; rogers.23@osu.edu, and also tell them if you’d like to arrange a call to prepare you for facilitating the simulation. A video with excerpts from the simulation is here. Additional resources for campus leaders made possible by a grant from the AAA-ICDR Foundation, are posted on the Divided Community Project’s #CampusBridge webpage. All resources are offered without a charge.