How to Start a Campus Community
Bring together HxA members on your campus to boost your impact.
Applications for the HxA Campus Community Network open each April, with accepted Communities matriculating at the start of the academic year. Applications for the fifth cohort of Campus Communities are now OPEN through July 18, 2025.
Read on to learn how to start a Campus Community at your university, and see what the first years would look like as you and your fellow HxA members embark to protect open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement on your campus. Note: Campus Communities are not necessarily officially sanctioned groups of their college or university.
Take the first step in building a community on your campus dedicated to promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.
HxA’s Campus Community Network is made up of 74 Campus Communities in the US, UK, and Canada. Campus Communities, which range in size, are led by 2-4 HxA member co-chairs on that campus, with financial and other support from HxA. Over time, these campus-based groups develop in different ways, based on the unique opportunities and challenges of each institution. Members of each Campus Community collaborate on mission-driven efforts, model HxA values, and improve institutional policies, practices, and culture. New Campus Communities join the Network in cohorts, with application periods opening each spring.
Campus Community applications must meet the following criteria:
- Minimum of two and maximum of four prospective co-chairs as part of your applicant group who are all:
- Members of HxA
- Faculty, staff, administrators and/or graduate students
- Affiliated with the same college or university
- Your campus must have at least 10 additional HxA members (excluding co-chairs)
In preparation for your application, we recommend connecting with other HxA members on campus via our online Member Directory, gauging their interest in forming a Campus Community, and beginning to build relationships with each other. You can also encourage colleagues to join HxA during this time.
Also begin reflecting on how establishing an HxA Campus Community would benefit your institution and what impact it could have on campus climate, policies, and more.
Campus Communities are added to the Network in cohorts, with application periods opening each spring. The next application cycle (Cohort 5) opens April 1, 2025 and closes July 18, 2025.
After submitting your application, the HxA Member & Campus Engagement team will review your application and schedule meetings with each applicant group between July 1 - August 8, 2025.
Final decisions will be made and acceptance notices sent by August 22, 2025. Please note: we meet with all eligible applicants, but acceptance into the Network is not guaranteed.
New Campus Communities are required to attend an orientation session in early September to get further acquainted with the program, go over shared expectations, and review next steps ahead of launching their Campus Community
After onboarding, you are now ready to begin activities on your campus! We have provided a suggested timeline as well as more information on potential pathways to impact to help set expectations and guide you through the process of growing your Campus Community.
While each Campus Community will likely progress at a different pace, this general framework outlines key stages of growth in your new Community's first two years.
Campus Communities evolve in their own unique way, while focusing on various activities that best serve their campus. There are three primary types of activities our Campus Communities typically pursue:
Building Community, Growing Membership, and Establishing Partnerships
Campus Communities lay the groundwork for long-term success by cultivating a strong network of faculty, administrators, staff, and students who share HxA’s commitment to open inquiry.
- Hosting regular informal gatherings and socializing
- Encouraging membership growth by recruiting new members
- Forming sustainable partnerships with academic units, programs, and initiatives
Improving Campus Culture through Programming & Events
Campus Communities influence campus culture by organizing events that encourage intellectual curiosity and dialogue across differing perspectives as well as providing professional development opportunities. These activities create a vibrant intellectual environment and expand HxA’s reach.
- Hosting a speaker or panel event
- Organizing a semester-long discussion group or book club
- Facilitating a professional development workshop
Strengthening Institutional Policies, Principles, and Operations
By engaging in shared governance and collaborating with university administrators, faculty senates, and student organizations, Campus Communities advocate for policies and principles that protect open inquiry.
- Serving on key committees and task forces
- Meeting with administrators on topics of concern
- Positioning members of your Campus Community as thought leaders on certain issues
HxA provides each Campus Community with consulting and financial support for campus activities. In addition, Communities are able to receive peer support from across the Network.
- Campus Community leaders participate in a virtual orientation workshop with leaders from Communities across their cohort.
- Campus Community members gain access to special forums in the HxA Portal for their specific institutions. Additionally, co-chairs gain access to The Quad — a private online community space for all of our Campus Community co-chairs
- HxA provides resources, advice, and other support for event/program planning, community building, member recruitment, communications, and more.
- Each Campus Community has a public landing page on the HxA website with information about their Community as well as a link to where donors can support the Community directly.
- Campus Community leaders receive opportunities to attend and contribute to seminars, webinars, and other opportunities related to intellectual leadership and higher ed policy.
- Campus Communities have access to additional special opportunities as they arise.