Constructive Engagement with Difficult Topics

As leaders, we have a crucial role to play in ensuring our campus remains a place that supports open and rigorous engagement with difficult topics. Discussions can be difficult and fraught, especially with polarizing topics which interface with personal and national identity, politics (domestic and international) and many other related issues. These topics are multifaceted, emotionally charged, and have a personal impact on members of our academic community in deep ways. The challenge for us as leaders, and as stewards of our academic units' educational mission, is to foster a culture that enhances understanding and builds skills leading to shared learning and respectful dialogue. In this workshop, participants will hear from faculty leaders and campus colleagues who regularly navigate charged situations and balance how to move their units toward a space of constructive engagement. Panelists will also share effective practices and helpful resources to support academic leaders.

Moderator: Adriane Lentz-Smith, Associate Professor of History

Speakers: Kerry Abrams, Dean of the Law School; Abdullah Antepli, Director of Polis: Center for Politics; Jay Pearson, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Sanford School of Public Policy