At America’s elite universities, we are told that pursuing free inquiry and civil discourse is a fundamental value. Administrators champion “grand” initiatives such as the Duke Provost’s Initiative on Free…
As universities across the U.S. seek to deal with protests, polarization, and the presidential election, many have focused on how to foster civil-discourse skills in students. As this tweet (below)…
Only 14 months after the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees voted to accelerate the creation of the School of Civic Life and Leadership, SCiLL has made significant progress. “The idea…
I don’t sleep much after chairing a Braver Angels college debate. There’s a surge of excitement that reverberates for hours after I guide the collision of highly charged, diverse viewpoints…
Since the rise of social media, many students have gotten used to discussing difficult topics within the protection of their own echo chambers. Students are often not expected to defend…
Late last year, UNC-Chapel Hill’s chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz, announced the appointment of the university’s new executive vice chancellor and provost, Christopher “Chris” Clemens. Clemens, who officially began his new role…
Over the last several years, Davidson College’s inhospitality to freedom of thought has caught the attention of concerned alumni. Among other concerns, a group of alumni was deeply dismayed by…
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors…
An important new front in the culture war has opened up at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one with major implications about intellectual diversity and how universities…
Americans used to relish good debates. The debates between Senator Stephen Douglas and his challenger Abraham Lincoln in 1858 were transcribed and widely read. Even though Lincoln lost the election,…