Jessica Supinski, director of student programs and engagement at Renton Technical College, will be the first to admit campus programming for a two-year technical college is difficult. It’s even trickier to create space for dialogue about current issues and how it’s affecting the student body.

After a string of tragedies last year, after holding vigil and vigil for unfortunate events, RTC decided it was time to create something that was sustainable and would bring about change. They created “cross-cultural dialogues” series, a forum for students and faculty to come together and discuss what is “very important and under discussed,” said Supinski.

“Most of the time responsive programming is based on a tragedy, the emotion of our campus community or an instance of bias that needs to be addressed,” she said. “Unfortunately so many bias situations get ignored because people don’t know what to do. They know it’s wrong but they don’t know what to do. Our responsiveness comes from a place of how can we support any type of healing and processing that our community might want to do together, as well as provide factual information and include real stories from real people.

“Instead of bringing in a big name speaker, we decided to have a collective discussion about a topic which is way better for experiential learning anyway.”

So far this school year, the dialogues have covered “Diversability and Abelism,” “Thanksgiving: Gratitude or Genocide?” and “Black Lives Matter.”

Many of these dialogues are constructed with the diversity at RTC in mind. During 2014-2015, there were 916 immigrants or refugee students and 893 first-generation students. Racially, 19.1 percent of students are Asian/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 15.7 percent are African or African American, 16.8 percent are Hispanic or Latino, 1.1 percent are Native American and 40.5 percent are white.

“Our dialogues are a safe space [for students] so they know they can show up without being judged or rejected for their backgrounds and differences,” said Sarra Ghezzaz, a student leader who helped organize the series.

The latest dialogue was scheduled for Feb. 2, and coincidentally took place right after President Donald Trump signed the executive order to pull federal funding from sanctuary cities and restrict travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. The topic — “Immigration: Policy or people?” — was not only timely, but also relevant to the diverse student population at RTC, many who have immigrated from or have family who are from the seven Muslim-majority countries.

It was the most-attended forum, Supinski said, with 84 students and faculty.

For Ghezzaz, this particular forum hit close to home. Having immigrated recently from Algeria, a Muslim-majority country, she said she was able to identify with the fears and concerns her peers expressed at the dialogue.

“I feel for my peers,” she said. “I want to support them and let them know that our college is here for them.”

The first dialogue had two attendees, and with each passing forum, more students and faculty show interest. And while the growing number of participants is a sign of success, it’s not the only measure Supinski is using.

“It’s also the follow-up conversations,” she said. “I hear [those conversations] with my colleagues, I hear them in the tutoring centers, I hear it in the student government office. The dialogues have opened up more space about current events and how they’re impacting students.”

For student Abdul Amath, the forums have been a place for him to “listen and hear people’s thoughts,” a bridge to better understand his peers.

“People are finally talking to each other instead of getting their information from a one-way source,” he said. “You get to create relationships with someone other than yourself.”

“I check off every box on the privilege list,” said student Joe Speidenner. “It’s important for me to be in those spaces and learn more about folks who have experiences that aren’t similar to mine.

Apart from the dialogues, RTC has also started “First Friday Food Series Luncheon,” a series established to bring people of a certain affinity group together for food, conversation and community-building. Each luncheon will focus on different affinity or identity group each month.

Dialogues about Islamaphobia, representation of women and rape culture are few of the conversations left in the series for this school year. As for the future for the dialogue series, Supinski said it is dependent on the students leaders.

“Student leaders play a critical role in what these look like,” she said. “They will ultimately decide the course of these dialogues.”