Keeping cool when debate turns hot
Campus & Community Keeping cool when debate turns hot Dean Hopi Hoekstra gives opening remarks.Photos by Grace DuVal Christy DeSmith Harvard Staff Writer February 24, 2025 5 min read Inaugural global Ethics Center conference features scholarship, presentations on fostering civil, productive dialogue Americans today are wrestling with how to turn down the heat when discussing politically and morally charged topics. Students, professors, and education professionals from around the globe assembled at Harvard this month to chart their way to more productive discussions — and better relations. The inaugural Challenging Barriers to Civil Discourse conference, hosted by the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics, featured scholarship on fostering open, honest exchanges across deep divides. It’s a pursuit central to a healthy democracy, said Hopi Hoekstra, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “Civil discourse is one of my top priorities,” she told conference-goers. “Universities play a unique and critical role in modeling constructive dialogue, and I believe...