Transformative Ideas and POLIS Programs Bring Serious Fun

He quoted from the autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.” Douglass writes that learning to read made him realize the liberating power of education: “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”

Spring in the ’20s Ball

A buffet dinner and build your own trifle gave students and faculty the chance to discuss transformative ideas while swinging from 1920s jazz to a 2020 dancing Transformer.

Montás said the phrase “liberal education” does not refer to politics but to freedom: It is education for free individuals. In the direct democracy of ancient Athens, it was understood that citizens needed education for collective self-governance, including knowledge of science, history, religion, law and ethics, as well as skills such as the ability to listen, debate and change one’s mind.

In the discussion that followed, Associate Provost Noah Pickus, who co-leads this Provost’s initiative with Vice Provost Abbas Benmamoun, observed that while some in America question the value of a liberal education, in other parts of the world people are hungry for it. Abroad, he said, many “people want to break away from a hierarchical model of education, and they want to drive innovation and creativity in a way that advances their national interests.”

Students shared they hadn’t known what to expect from the first-time event but were glad they had decided to attend. First-year Connor Ennis and sophomore Lance Caswell praised the Transformative Ideas program; Caswell said he enjoyed the “great discussions” in his living-learning community, while Ennis had learned about it through a course taught by one of the affiliated faculty members.  

The conversations continued the next two days in a colloquium that drew together Duke faculty and students along with former participants in Duke’s Civil Discourse seminars and other visiting scholars leading programs at their institutions, including Davidson and Dartmouth colleges and Pepperdine, Villanova, and Wake Forest universities.

Here are some highlights:

Intellectual Friendship

John Martin, professor of history at Duke, on intellectual friendship in the Renaissance and the value of bringing people into conversation: “What happens when we live in polarized times? What happens when political disagreements are so sharp – how do we navigate that?”

Linda Rabieh, senior lecturer in the humanities at MIT, explained that classical thinkers believed that the most important friendships grow out of disagreement. She quoted Socrates about the pleasure of being refuted: For Socrates, nothing is worse than “false opinions,” so it is the “greater good” to be refuted.  

Felipe de Brigard, professor of philosophy and psychology & neuroscience at Duke, on the importance of intellectual humility: “Some scholars feel attacked when their work is shown to be wrong – but in fact, others help us when they show us to be wrong.”

Free Inquiry

Abdullah Antepli, director of POLIS at Sanford, summarized what participating faculty in Duke’s Civil Discourse seminars learned over the past several years: “Teaching on polarizing subjects went better than expected. Duke’s seminars helped faculty to gain moral courage and intentionality to teach challenging subjects. We found ways to define terms and guidelines, bring a diversity of views into the classroom, and build more tools for civil discourse in the wake of October 7.”

Kerry Abrams, dean of Duke School of Law, and Jed Atkins, dean of the School of Civic Life and Leadership at UNC Chapel Hill, discussed the relative challenges and opportunities for free inquiry in private and public universities. 

Debbie Goldstein, associate vice president/associate vice provost for community-engaged scholarship, discussing the N.C. Leadership Forum: “Our goal is not to build a bunch of recommendations at the end. Our goal is to better understand why we disagree and we’re going to spend more time on the topics where we disagree than on the topics where we agree.”

Nita Farahany, Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law, on seeking technological advances that support our humanity and freedom: “There’s a lot of activity that … we might be able to cultivate to protect cognitive liberty across society, not just as a human right, but as a substantial research investment.”

Belonging on Campus

Wylin Wilson, associate professor of theological ethics: “If we are able to really lean in with helping students to develop empathy, to develop compassion, I think it helps tremendously in this notion of belonging and creating a sense of belonging and not being sentimental whatsoever. 

Margaret Chisholm, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Johns Hopkins: “We are called to care for our patients even if they have committed heinous crimes or are hateful toward us. I think with our students, we need to teach them how to look at someone else with whom they disagree and see that they are a person of value, their ideas matter. They might not agree with those ideas, but they can empathize and try to understand where they are coming from.”

Norman Wirzba, director, Research for Climate & Sustainability & Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke, recounting a challenging discussion in front of students during a seminar session: “The students were getting very uncomfortable because they had not seen two professors have this kind of conversation. And of course we love this conversation. It was based on a profound respect, a commitment to be with each other in the face of major disagreements we both have. And it was so liberating for our students.”

Pluralism

Polly Ha, on pluralism: “Duke’s eruditio et religio underscores our commitment to pursuing knowledge in service of humanity. It points to how free inquiry and belonging can be synergistic, despite our immediate contexts that can lead us to emphasize one at the expense of the other. Pluralism helps us to tap into those synergies and explore creative possibilities. It isn’t a mere political prop to manage polarization.”

Angel Parham, professor of sociology at University of Virginia: “Diversity is a matter of a social fact. Pluralism is a shared project.”

Rich Eva, director of Pratt School’s Character Forward Initiative: “In engineering, we need diverse perspectives in building teams to build good products.”

Malachi Hacohen, professor of History, Religion, and German Studies: “What can universities do to regain pluralism and open civil exchange? Humanities, especially history and religion, have a special role in the recognition of differences. Engaging in a liberal curriculum can give us a foundation.”

Yakut Gazi, vice provost for learning innovation and digital education, and Aria Chernik, director of Duke’s Center for Applied Research and Design in Transformative Education (CARADITE), helped guide faculty in working groups to develop strategies to scale open and transformative learning from classrooms to wider campus culture and communities. 

After the sessions, students and faculty walked away with ideas to act on. Students said they were eager to continue having challenging conversations across campus. Faculty said the three days inspired them to continue the work.

“It is such a privilege to partner with so many people and to see new collaborations, ideas, and strategies emerge out of such an important moment and milestone for Duke,” said Ha.

“It was a delight to make new friends with people who were both earnest and generous in their engagement. These past days reminded me again about why I got into academic life in the first place,” Wirzba said.

The visiting scholars went back to their home institutions seeking to incorporate some of the work they’re seeing at Duke.

“The colloquium was both incredibly illuminating and also fun, a rare combination for academic conferences” said Bradley Burroughs, director of Leadership and Character in Academic, Civic, and Religious Life and the Principled Pluralism Fellowship at Wake Forest University.

Conference sponsors were Trinity College’s Transformative Ideas; Sanford School’s POLIS; Provost’s Initiative on Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging; Duke Centennial; LILE; CARADITE; Duke Law; Duke Divinity School; Pratt School of Engineering; Duke Community Affairs; Duke Student Affairs; Duke Alumni; Duke Center for Jewish Studies; Duke Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

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