These two professors engage students around divisive topics with curiosity and respect. And they’re leading the way for other educators.
At college, young people have the opportunity to get to know peers from different ethnic, social, and political backgrounds. As a result, they meet students who see the world in completely different ways.
So what should happen when students encounter ideas, histories, or each other in ways that make them deeply uncomfortable? Avoiding those conversations may reduce conflict in the short term. Simply encouraging students to “speak freely” isn’t enough either. Without trust and skill, difficult conversations can reinforce divisions instead of bridging them.
Professors and other educators can provide guidance drawing from a wide array of sources and points of view. But how can educators teach healthy constructive ways to engage with new ideas and different perspectives, especially in an age of polarization?
Universities have become one of the places where America’s conflicts over race, history, identity, and free expression play out most intensely. In the 2010s many scholars adopted a more critical view of American history and how it shaped our present. But the past few years have seen a roll-back of racial studies programs and diversity initiatives. Universities around the country have opened civics education centers, in some cases as a way of restoring a more traditional take on history.
Our two guests this episode are professors who teach divisive topics including race in America and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. They've each found ways to engage students and create classroom cultures based on curiosity and respect. And they’re leading the way for other educators.
Stephanie Shonekan is Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland. While chair of the Black Studies Department at the University of Missouri, Stephanie created and ran several programs geared towards inclusion and diversity. She’s also an ethnomusicologist, and uses music to address difficult topics in class. She's the co-author of the book Race and the American Story.
John Rose is a professor of the practice at the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He teaches several courses on civil discourse, including one titled “How to Think in an Age of Polarization,” which has inspired similar classes at colleges across the country. He holds a doctorate in theology.
Learn more from our guests:
Watch Stephanie Shonekan’s TED talk: “SPF, WTF?”
Watch Stephanie Shonekan and John Rose speak on a panel on civil dialogue at the Ohio Civic Center Symposium at the Ohio State University, May 2025
Watch Stephanie Shonekan and co-author Adam Seagrave discuss their book Race and the American Story
Order Race and the American Story
Read John Rose’s essay for the Wall Street Journal, “How I liberated my college classroom.”
Dig deeper:
10 highlights from Yale’s new report detailing why Americans distrust higher education -The College Fix
Higher Education’s Problems Go Way Beyond Trust – The Ringer
Ibram X. Kendi vs. America’s “Antiracism Backlash” – Reveal
The Most Important Question Is ‘What if I’m Wrong?’ - David French, New York Times
Inside the Trump Administration’s Assault on Higher Education - the New Yorker
Buckley Institute 2025 national survey report on free speech and related issues on campus
College Uncovered: the New College Compact - College Uncovered podcast, GBH
Related article: Local colleges targeted amid growing campus culture wars
A five-point plan to save Harvard from itself - Steven Pinker for the Boston Globe
Harvard Derangement Syndrome - Steven Pinker for the New York Times