Constructive Dialogue Institute Receives $3 Million Grant from the Mike and Sofia Segal Foundation to Strengthen Open Inquiry and Civil Discourse in Higher Education
New York, NY [6/8/2026] —The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) today announced a $3 million grant from the Mike and Sofia Segal Foundation to support a major new initiative to promote open inquiry, intellectual pluralism, and constructive dialogue across American higher education.
This transformational 18-month grant builds on CDI’s nearly decade-long mission to partner with colleges and universities nationwide to build the skills, leadership capacity, and instructional structures needed to sustain a culture of inquiry, dialogue, and free expression.
The grant will support both the expansion of CDI’s existing leadership and institutional culture change work and the development of new executive programming for senior university leaders. Together, these efforts are designed to strengthen the institutional conditions that shape campus culture and decision-making.
Scaling Presidential Leadership & Institutional Change Efforts
The CDI Leadership Institute is a year-long initiative that brings together college presidents and senior leadership teams to develop and implement strategies that strengthen dialogue, open inquiry, and free expression on campus. In 2025, CDI convened a cohort of nine highly selective private universities, including Harvard College, Yale University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This grant will support continued work with that cohort as well as the launch of a new cohort of leading public flagship universities.
The grant will also help CDI expand its Institutional Change Model, a rigorous, evidence-informed framework that helps colleges and universities take a comprehensive and strategic approach to embedding inquiry, intellectual pluralism, and constructive engagement into the fabric of institutional life.
“Many colleges and universities want to foster a culture where students and faculty can engage disagreement constructively, pursue truth together, and ask difficult questions without fear,” said Caroline Mehl, co-founder and executive director of CDI. “But culture does not change through statements alone. It requires leadership, incentives, skills, institutional norms, and sustained organizational commitment. The Segal Foundation’s catalytic investment will enable us to better understand how colleges and universities can build those conditions in durable and scalable ways.”
Designing New Executive Programming
In addition to scaling existing programs, the initiative will fund an 18-month planning and design phase to develop new approaches to advancing constructive dialogue and intellectual pluralism across higher education.
During this period, CDI will conduct market research, landscape analysis, concept testing, and pilot programming to identify high-impact strategies for engaging key institutional stakeholders across higher education.
“The Mike and Sofia Segal Family Foundation has demonstrated exceptional leadership in recognizing that a healthy democratic culture depends on strong academic institutions,” said Jonathan Haidt, co-founder of CDI and professor at New York University Stern School of Business. “This partnership will help accelerate the development of scalable, evidence-based approaches to strengthen the norms and institutional conditions that support intellectual pluralism in higher education.”
“Universities play a foundational role in shaping the norms, habits, and institutional culture that sustain a free society,” said Mike Segal, Co-Founder of the Mike and Sofia Segal Foundation. “We believe strengthening the institutional infrastructure that supports open inquiry, intellectual pluralism, and constructive engagement is one of the most important long-term investments we can make in higher education. CDI has emerged as a thoughtful and credible leader in this work, and we are excited to partner with them during this important planning and development phase. The Foundation will continue to invest in other initiatives in this arena.”
Toward the end of the grant period, CDI and the Foundation will jointly review findings, assess early indicators of traction, and develop a refined implementation and scaling strategy for future work.
About the Constructive Dialogue Institute
The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that partners with colleges and universities to create campus cultures of inquiry, dialogue, and free expression. CDI believes that a thriving democracy depends on people’s ability to engage with diverse perspectives, evaluate information critically, and collaborate on shared challenges. Since its founding in 2017, CDI has partnered with more than 150 colleges and universities nationwide, offering an evidence-based suite of programs designed to reach stakeholders at every level of a campus—from presidents to incoming students—and drive meaningful culture change.
About the Mike & Sofia Segal Foundation
The Mike and Sofia Segal Foundation is committed to making impactful gifts in the areas of Freedom of Intellectual Thought, Medical Research, Civil Society, Jewish Heritage and Israel, Climate Change and Elder Care.
Media Contacts
Caroline Mehl
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Constructive Dialogue Institute
caroline@constructivedialogue.org
Misha Galperin
Mike & Sofia Segal Foundation
