This document is for all participants in the Winter 2025 Solidarity in the Face of MAGA online course facilitated by me, David. It is meant to provide important information about how the course will be held and a group of community agreements for all course participants, especially those participating in live sessions on the zoom platform. 

 

The Audience for this Course and Identity-Based Breakout Group Options 

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Many of the courses I lead are "white anti-racist caucuses," meaning they are designed as spaces for those of us who are white to deepen our capacity to engage in multiracial movement-building with greater effectiveness and are meant to address the specific needs of white people entering into the work of social change. ​

 

However, this course is designed for and open to all. Currently there are many common forms of political education and support that all of us—people of all backgrounds—need to make sense of this post-election moment. Solidarity in the Face of MAGA is meant to address these. Yet because of the nature of most of my work, the vast majority of the audience for this work is white (and therefore the vast majority of participants in this course will also likely be white). 

 

In the midst of this, we will have optional breakout group spaces in each session for participants of color if there are sufficient numbers of folks of color attending live and desiring this option in a particular session.​ Additionally, during our third session which covers Palestine solidarity organizing, we will create Jewish breakout group options. If there are sufficient numbers of Palestinian, Arab, and/or Muslim participants we would be happy to create this breakout space during session three as well (please reach out to david@davidbfdean.com if you would be interested in this option). ​All of these breakout spaces are meant to allow for participants of these identities to have the option of discussing the distinct ways course curriculum relates to their lived experiences with others who share similar experiences.

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Community Agreements for Course Participation 

 

We ask that all course participants, especially those attending the live zoom sessions of this course, adhere to the following community agreements: 

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• All participants must be registered for the course and each participant must fill out their own individual registration form. Participants must also not share their individual zoom logins with others. However, attending a session via the same device with friends who are also registered is totally fine. 

 

• Confidentiality: Participants must not share session recordings, session chat logs, or the link to the participant page as a whole with those not registered for the course. We also ask that participants not share personal stories of other participants shared in small breakout rooms outside of that particular breakout room. Sharing insights gained from breakout room experiences is fully acceptable. Lessons leave, stories stay.

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• Refrain from offering criticism or constructive feedback about how the course is facilitated during the live sessions themselves. We value much of this feedback in a major way. However, with a large group of participants and very limited group session time together, we ask that you deliver this feedback in the end-of-course survey or by emailing us at david@davidbfdean.com. 

 

• Work to keep the written zoom chat, breakout room discussions and sharing with the whole group to the subject matter of the course. Engaging in long side conversations can detract from other participants’ ability to focus and get the most out of course content. We also ask that all participants remain muted in whole group portions of zoom sessions unless called upon. Additionally, we ask that participants share from the heart while making an effort to not monopolize whole group or breakout sharing time by leaving time for others to speak (and being open to facilitator guidance related to this topic). Finally, share from personal experience and refrain from unsolicited feedback or criticism of other participants (especially in unmediated breakout room discussions).

 

• Approach participants, facilitators (and oneself) with openness, care, and respect. In this course, we will be speaking about many heavy subjects and all of us want those subjects to be held with care and in a good way. In the midst of that, we want to zero in on the importance of cultivating an ethic of openness and care one another—acknowledging that we are all on our own learning journeys with these topics, and no matter where you are on that journey, no one has all the answers, we’re all works in progress. Our goal is to be honest, courageous and kind, and to approach one another with curiosity and respect, because this is the approach that is best suited for the learning, growth, and change that we’re after. 

 

• The violation of these community agreements in an excessive way can result in various consequences at the course facilitators’ discretion including the muting of a participant, revoking live session zoom logins, or removal from the course. 

 

An additional note: My gratitude goes out to Eleanor Hancock, director of the organization White Awake, for modeling for me the importance of a set of written ground rules such as these in maintaining a positive experience for large groups in an online learning setting.