Now having nearly concluded one full year as a D-E DEIB-focused offering, the “Leaders for Equity and Diversity” (LEAD) Program has evolved into an opportunity for students to not only encourage more open communication about DEIB within the school community, but also an invaluable, unique space for idea-sharing and peer conversation. Specifically, through “Dialogue Dinners”, which have occurred periodically throughout this year, LEAD is creating an environment where students listen to each other and are “invested in the conversation”, according to LEAD member Soham Bafana ’25. “We had a lot of other varying conversations. . . [where] I think people who walked out of that conversation knew a lot more than when they walked in, and that’s the goal of anything”.

Most recently, LEAD hosted a “Dialogue Dinner” on Andrew Tate and Red Pill culture, inspired by The Matrix movie series. Soham broke down the organization of the dinner behind the scenes: from writing a proposal for the idea and discussing the agenda to making announcements, hours of dedication and time are required to hold a dinner. All this hard work, however, is rewarding because of what follows it, according to Soham. “I personally love the conversations we have. . . after the Dialogue Dinner,” Soham enthused. “Everybody’s kind of decompressing, but the topic is still lingering in their minds… and then when it comes up, it comes up as a nuanced new idea. I love to see that change and I love to see people seeing [an idea] in a different way after only a few hours of discussion”.

By simply initiating conversation about students, the LEAD program continues to strengthen ideas and community one dinner (and dialogue) at a time.

*Editor’s Note: To learn more about DEIB at D-E, scan the QR code.