From Colin Kapernick and Donald Trump to #metoo and Black Lives Matter: Strategies for Difficult Conversations in the Classroom

Higher education isn’t immune to today’s polarized environment but we as educators must encourage civil discourse. While faculty come to teaching with extensive academic credentials and subject matter knowledge, managing discussions of hot issues such as race, gender, social justice, and politics is not a typical skill taught in graduate school. Faculty may be attacked for bringing up these hot topics in the classroom and students might be marginalized or attacked.The classroom should be a space for critical thinking, challenging assumptions and seeking new understandings. This panel will discuss some of the challenges of having difficult conversations in the classroom, including personal experiences and case studies, and provide some strategies to employ to turn what could be a destructive experience into an instructive one.