Course to bring tough issues to the table
There are still 25 spots remaining in the class.
Published Nov. 5, 2010
In an effort to further MU’s diversity mission, the Difficult Dialogues program is offering Difficult Dialogues: Controversial Subjects in Higher Education as a course for the first time in the spring semester.
“We can all sit down at the table and as long as we agree, we can have a good time," class instructor Eryca Neville said. "But, when we bring divergent viewpoints together, we just don’t know what to do with one another."
Neville, who will teach the course with Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington, said the class will teach students what to do in a similar situation. She said in dialogue, many people believe compromise is impossible, when the opposite is in fact true. Difficult Dialogues strives to teach students how to find this middle ground.
“Demographics in America are shifting,” Neville said. “It is vital for us as a nation to be able to engage people in conversations, so that everyone feels they have space and a place at the table. We do a lot of things in education, but helping to facilitate and give students the skills needed to be successful in that is crucial.”
Both Neville and graduate student Urme Nazneen Ali said they hope the class will feature a broad range of students.
“I am hoping that this course will expose me to perspectives that are different than my own,” Ali said. “I believe that getting out there and talking candidly about sensitive issues is fundamental to giving everyone in our society an equal voice.”
Neville said the class will not only feature a diverse group of perspectives but also a varying group of students from different majors.
“The ability to facilitate a productive dialogue is a skill that will go with whatever your major is,” Neville said.
As a means of recruiting a diverse group of students, Neville sent a course description over several listservs, including the social justice and Black Studies mailing lists, among others.
As a part of the class, students will “learn the techniques needed to promote intellectual pluralism, as well as productive and healthy dialogues,” the description states.
The class will feature a different faculty member every week who will present different controversial issues that range from sexual identity to women's empowerment. Lecturers will facilitate a classroom discussion after their presentation.
“This is going to be an opportunity for students to actually interact with professors,” Neville said. “Professors will know the student’s names.”
Given the nature of some of the topics on hand, Neville said she expects some of the discussions to become emotional.
“These dialogues get emotional sometimes,” Neville said. “We hope to teach how to work through the emotional piece to get to the intellectual side of it.”
Ali said she is taking the course because she anticipates the opportunity to converse with people who are willing to speak honestly and listen carefully.
“I like to think of myself as an open-minded person, but I'm sure that my prejudices will surface — we all have them — and am looking forward to exploring them,” Ali said. “I also want to become a more effective communicator when talking to people who do not share my views.”
Neville said the course will provide students with the tools to make progress in a discussion in the midst of clashing ideas. She said this is a class unlike any offered at MU.
“The goal is to give our students the opportunity to actually go back and work through those moments of dissonance in the classroom and realize that it is okay,” Neville said.
The three-credit hour course will be held Thursday afternoons. Neville said about 15 spaces have already been taken, leaving room for 25 more students.
“Anybody who is in leadership or desires to go back in and interact with people in an employment situation would really benefit from sitting down and having these conversations,” Neville said. “It’s a great course for anybody interested in leadership positions. I’d love to see student leaders on campus enroll.”