This two-day symposium, Thursday, October 27 and Friday, October 28, is designed for doctoral students, faculty and staff at the University of Florida. It will focus on the challenges of teaching in today’s polarized political environment. It will be held in the Keene Faculty Center.
Dr. John Rose, Associate Director of the Civil Discourse Project at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, will lead this collaborative and conversational two-part workshop. He will share his experiences designing and teaching How to Think in an Age of Political Polarization over the past four years, including his strategies for motivating students and creating an atmosphere of openness and trust.
Workshop participants will be asked to share their classroom experiences and thoughts about civil discourse among students at UF. Together, attendees will address some of the difficult academic questions surrounding political discourse on campus—for instance, the limits of free speech, viewpoint epistemology, classroom norms, and the value of intellectual diversity.
The forum consists of two half-day sessions. Lunch is provided. The program is divided into a morning and afternoon session each day. Participants can attend either the morning or afternoon session on each day.
On Thursday, the workshop explores the increased focus on civil discourse in the classroom and delves into what’s at stake for instructors and students in the current moment. Friday builds on these discussions by further considering the strategies and goals for incorporating more civil discourse into the classroom. Again, participants can choose whether they want to attend in the morning or the afternoon, which they will select during registration.
The forum is free to attend, but registration is required.
The forum is hosted by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and the Dial Center for Written & Oral Communication.
A short list of suggested readings that serve as aids to discussion are provided below. Any additional materials will be provided to registrants no later than Friday, October 21.
| Thursday, October 27, 2022 | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 AM | Check in and Continental Breakfast, Keene Faculty Center |
| 9:00 AM | Introductions and Discussion of Where the Students Are Participants will engage in a discussion about how undergraduate students are experiencing civil discourse on campus and in the classroom today. We will discuss the extent to which students are self-censoring, why are some doing this, and how the answers to these questions might look different for various groups of students and at different types of schools. After hearing from Dr. Rose about his experiences at Duke, participants will share and compare their own experiences of and thoughts on the situation at UF. |
| 10:30 AM | Coffee Break |
| 10:45 AM | The Structure, Strategies, and Ethics of the Duke seminar Participants will hear from Dr. Rose about what he has learned through trial-and-error while teaching his seminar on political polarization and civil discourse. He will offer some practical tips, including possible ground rules for such a seminar, how he structures his syllabus, and his various strategies for motivating students to engage in open, productive discourse with each other. |
| 11:45 AM | Break and Group 2 check in |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch with Group 1 and Group 2 participants |
| 12:45 PM | Group 1 participants depart and Afternoon session begins |
| Introductions and Discussion of Where the Students Are Participants will engage in a discussion about how undergraduate students are experiencing civil discourse on campus and in the classroom today. We will discuss the extent to which students are self-censoring, why are some doing this, and how the answers to these questions might look different for various groups of students and at different types of schools. After hearing from Dr. Rose about his experiences at Duke, participants will share and compare their own experiences of and thoughts on the situation at UF. |
|
| 2:15 PM | Coffee Break |
| 2:30 PM | The Structure, Strategies, and Ethics of the Duke seminar Participants will hear from Dr. Rose about what he has learned through trial-and-error while teaching his seminar on political polarization and civil discourse. He will offer some practical tips, including possible ground rules for such a seminar, how he structures his syllabus, and his various strategies for motivating students to engage in open, productive discourse with each other. |
| 3:30 PM | Day 1 concludes |
| 6:00 PM | Civil Discourse in Education Today Presented in the Pugh Hall Ocora, this program is a partnership with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, and the Dial Center for Written & Oral Communication. There will be a reception immediately following. Attendees and the general public are invited to attend this program and reception. |
| Friday, October 28, 2022 | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 AM | Check-in and Continental Breakfast, Keene Faculty Lounge |
| 9:00 AM | Challenges and Aspirations in Implementing Civil Discourse Participants will discuss the main challenges and objections to efforts promoting civil discourse in the college classroom today. Topics will include safe spaces and viewpoint epistemology, among others. |
| 10:30 AM | Break |
| 10:45 AM | Concluding Discussion |
| 11:30 AM | Break and Group 2 check in |
| 11:45 AM | Lunch with Group 1 and Group 2 participants |
| 12:45 AM | Group 1 participants depart and Afternoon session begins |
| Challenges and Aspirations in Implementing Civil Discourse Participants will discuss the main challenges and objections to efforts promoting civil discourse in the college classroom today. Topics will include safe spaces and viewpoint epistemology, among others. |
|
| 2:15 PM | Break |
| 2:30 PM | Concluding Discussion |
| 3:15 PM | Day 2 concludes |
Suggested Readings
Day 1
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Loving Your Enemies
- John Rose, How I Liberated My College Classroom
- How to Think in an Age of Political Polarization Syllabus
- Polarization Seminar Essay Prompts
Day 2
- Emma Camp, I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead
- Sam Leith, In Defence of Wokeness
- Michael Roth, Anxiety About Wokeness is Intellectual Weakness
- Cornel West and Robert George, Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression Statement
- Jon Shields, I’m a Conservative Professor Who Opposed Safe Spaces. I Was Wrong
- Olúfemi O. TáÃwò,  Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference