Duke Expanding Civil Discourse Training for Faculty Across America

After inaugural seminar in 2022, university hosting two training sessions in August

stock image of political divisions between red and blue political actors, in front of US flag

There鈥檚 a story Kenan Institute instructor relays to his class on civil discourse at the start of every semester.

It鈥檚 from a speech by the Democratic strategist/CNN pundit Van Jones.

鈥淛ones tells his audience that there are two notions of safe spaces at colleges 鈥 one is a great idea, one is a terrible idea,鈥 Rose shares. 鈥淭he good idea is that you're physically safe, and nobody can hurl slurs at you and these sorts of things.鈥

The terrible notion? 鈥淵ou're never going to hear anything that conflicts with your own ideology or makes you psychologically uncomfortable. That鈥檚 terrible. You're not supposed to be safe (from that).鈥

The reality is that some college students have come to subscribe to the second view and it鈥檚 hindering free speech in the classroom and causing students with minority views to keep quiet to avoid ridicule and isolation from their peers, Rose says.

For faculty, reversing this situation isn鈥檛 easy.

鈥淣obody gets a Ph.D. in civil discourse, so many lack confidence in this area,鈥 says Rose, director of the at Duke. 鈥淭hey feel like something needs to be done and sense many students want a different classroom environment, but, as teachers, they don't know how to do it.鈥

John Rose
John Rose

Largely because of Rose鈥檚 efforts, Duke is becoming a hub for teaching ways to create civil discourse on college campuses.

In addition to courses on the subject he鈥檚 been teaching undergraduates for the past several years, Rose and colleagues hosted an inaugural seminar last summer on incorporating civil discourse. That event, which drew faculty from as far away as BYU and Pepperdine and as near as UNC-Chapel Hill, was discussed in .

This August, two seminars on civil discourse will take place at Duke 鈥 a repeat of the 2022 event, 鈥淭eaching Civil Discourse in the Classroom,鈥 Aug. 15-16, and a new gathering Aug. 2-4 lead by the nonprofit . (Registration for both seminars is closed.)

Both events provide training and resources to help faculty and administrators across the United States learn how to better guide classroom discussions focused on hot-button issues.

Rose鈥檚 own class, which he reflected on for an op-ed in ,spends days on abortion, the idea of race, factors in college admissions, transgender athletes and police violence.

鈥淚 applaud these efforts at Duke and across the country to help promote respect and understanding regarding the differences that often divide our society and our students,鈥 said 老牛影视 President Vincent Price, who visited Rose鈥檚 class this spring and will offer opening remarks at the Citizens & Scholars event. 

鈥淣obody gets a Ph.D. in civil discourse, so many lack confidence in this area. They feel like something needs to be done and sense many students want a different classroom environment, but, as teachers, they don't know how to do it.鈥

John Rose

鈥淭hese seminars will help faculty develop skills and resources for advancing a collective, healthy respect for differences on our campuses.鈥

Participants in the Institute for Citizens & Scholars seminar were selected by their university and college presidents from myriad disciplines, Rose says. He will lead many discussions, along with faculty from the University of Chicago, Columbia University, American University and Citizens & Scholars.

Through speeches and table discussions, goals of the seminar include:

  • Increasing faculty members鈥 capacity, commitment, and comfort level to develop and teach courses that prepare students to engage in dialogue across difference.
  • Increasing faculty members鈥 capacity, commitment and comfort level to engage across lines of political difference in a meeting, classroom and community -- irrespective of their discipline or areas of scholarship.
  • Strengthening teaching in civic preparedness, free expression and intellectual dissent in the classroom by incorporating methods into an existing course or developing a new one.
  • Expanding and establishing a network of faculty committed to this area of teaching.

The Citizens & Scholars team plans to stress the importance of faculty as 鈥渃rucial both for the larger aspirations of higher education and for the specific effort that this initiative involves鈥 in course redesign and/or development.

鈥淯niversities prepare students for full participation and leadership in our constitutional democracy and civil society,鈥 said Janett Cordov茅s, senior program director at The Institute for Citizens & Scholars. 鈥淭he faculty who prepare students for those responsibilities, in turn, must be skilled, confident and comfortable in engaging in discussion of diverse intellectual and social perspectives.鈥

Rose and Sanford School professor Deondra Rose, director of , will lead the second seminar. Participants, who commit to teaching a version of Rose鈥檚 course at their own institutions following the seminar, were chosen from a large pool of applicants. This year鈥檚 group will come from 20 schools, including Carleton, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Vanderbilt and MIT. Discussion topics will include the relationship between DEI and free speech, as well as the limits to the so-called Overton Window -- a model for understanding how ideas in society change over time and influence politics -- in the classroom. The seminar is funded with a grant from the