Listening Tables @SIPA-ONLY

​​SIPA is a global policy school that prepares leaders in a world that is fracturing faster than we can comprehend. As global crises escalate, many students feel that the space for honest dialogue is shrinking globally and here inside the building.

​​We invite you to join the SIPA-only Listening Tables session, which will introduce a new style of dialogue at SIPA—a protected, guided space for listening across difference.

​The Session will be hosted by:
​➡️ Eugenia McGill, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of International and Public Affairs;
​➡️ Deepak Padmakumar, Deputy Secretary, Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & 2nd-year student, MIA Program;
​➡️ Victoria Kuketz, 2026 Obama Foundation Scholar & Digital Democracy Fellow, Public Policy Forum.

​​Listening Tables is a dialogue program developed by the Trust Collaboratory at Columbia University in 2024. Unlike debate forums or issue panels, Listening Tables are structured to protect dignity, reduce polarization, and rebuild the conditions under which people can maintain relationships across ideological differences.