5 strategies for promoting meaningful campus dialogue this fall | – University Business

Rather than a return to normalcy, university and college leaders can encourage their campuses to embrace more productive conversations across lines of difference.

This fall will see American colleges and universities re-open their doors to in-person learning. We have all missed the energy of a buzzing campus, yet our enthusiasm is tempered with questions: How smoothly will we readapt to the classroom? How has technology newly impacted learning? With Zoom pushing everyone further online for the past year and half, how will near-constant social media outrage and crisis-level reporting impact campus dialogue?

Kyle Sebastian Vitale, Ph.D., is the Director of Programs at Heterodox Academy.

With classrooms reopening, campus leaders are in a unique position to promote meaningful dialogue and constructive disagreement as students process the emotional experiences and immense questions of the past year. Rather than a return to normalcy, university and college leaders can encourage their campuses to embrace more productive conversations across lines of difference.

Students, instructors, and staff are carrying back to campus their personal experiences of COVID-19, the killing of George Floyd and others, the January 6 events at the Capitol, and more. Campus leaders can use this opportunity to embrace the unique role of reconvening students for on-campus discussions following lockdown. As they do so, their words and visibility can shape expectations and remind their communities of shared values. These approaches will matter. With emotions high, strategic messaging and encouragement can help ground on-campus dialogue in mutual respect.

As you think about reconvening your own community this fall, consider these five strategies for promoting meaningful dialogue and constructive disagreement.

Campus leaders have the privilege to convene bold, authentic dialogue that promotes constructive disagreement without marginalizing others. I will always remember how the president of my alma mater embodied our shared identity as scholar-servants. She was intentional in using the phrase, reminded us of the wider world it pointed to, and modeled it in her teaching and volunteerism. It bound us together and drew us beyond our self-defensive mechanisms. By staying visible, underscoring shared values, and signaling civil and charitable debate over polarization and anger, campus leaders can elevate dialogue and set a new standard for normal.

Kyle Sebastian Vitale, Ph.D., is the Director of Programs at Heterodox Academy, a non-partisan collaborative of over 5,000 professors, administrators, and graduate students committed to promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement in institutions of higher learning. He has taught courses and workshops in writing, literature, and pedagogy for over a decade at the University of Delaware, Yale University, the University of New Haven, and Temple University.

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5 strategies for promoting meaningful campus dialogue this fall | - University Business