Courageous Conversations and UFlourish host joint civil discourse event

The University of Calgary recently hosted a thought-provoking Courageous Conversation event in collaboration with UFlourish, exploring the importance of civil discourse on postsecondary campuses. The event explored institutional efforts to foster respectful dialogue in the context of conflicts, controversy and sometimes heated disagreement. Equity, diversity and inclusion, and community health and well-being were highlighted as key values to be embraced in the move towards creating respectul environments on campus.   

The Nov. 12 event, Thinking Out Loud Together: Why Civil Discourse Matters on Our Campuses, brought students, faculty and staff together to discuss the challenges of fostering meaningful dialogue in today’s polarized climate where opportunities to engage with people with differing views are rare. Dr. Malinda Smith, UCalgary’s vice-provost and associate vice president research (equity, diversity and inclusion), opened the session by contextualizing the significance of civil discourse.

“Universities are unique spaces, indeed the only institution in our society in which people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives converge for an extended period of time,” Smith said. “With that diversity comes growth opportunities, but also the need to cultivate ways in which to learn, research and work well together, including navigating disagreement in productive ways.”

A national perspective on civil discourse

Renowned guest speaker, Dr. Randy Boyagoda, PhD, advisor on civil discourse with the University of Toronto, shared his insights on the importance of engaging, listening to, and seeking to understand the views of people who disagree, sometimes passionately, with us, in academic settings. A novelist and professor of English, Boyagoda’s remarks emphasized that this approach, “thinking out loud together” is not about assuming we will persuade people to agree with us. Rather, Boyagoda stressed the need for “epistemic humility”; the ability to recognize one’s limitations while engaging with others.

“Civil discourse is not about politeness,” Boyagoda said. “It’s about affirming the dignity of others, grappling with differences and finding ways to work together despite them.”

Boyagoda addressed how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the social dynamics of university life, noting that many students and faculty have become more hesitant to engage in open dialogue due to fears of social backlash or misunderstanding.

“The atomizing effects of the pandemic have made it harder to foster face-to-face conversations,” he said. “But it’s those very conversations that are vital for the mission of a university, to pursue knowledge and truth.”

Balancing diverse perspectives

The event also explored how universities can navigate conflicts that reflect global tensions. Smith and Boyagoda agreed that universities must create spaces where complex issues can be debated with care and mutual respect.

“This hyper-diverse environment on campus and in the wider community demands new ways of getting to know and engage with one another,” Smith said. “We can’t assume everyone knows how to engage in difficult conversations about contentious issues. In a university we must create opportunities for those skills to be developed.”

A call to action

The Courageous Conversation event highlighted the importance of cultivating civil discourse as an essential skill for students, staff, faculty and leadership alike. Universities can equip their communities to tackle society’s most pressing challenges by fostering environments where differences are respected and disagreements are productive, says Boyagoda.

“As members of a university, we are bound by a shared mission to learn and grow,” Boyagoda said in his closing remarks. “If we approach each other with humility and curiosity, we can transform disagreement into discovery.”

The event concluded with a lively Q&A session, where attendees reflected on their own experiences and asked how they could contribute to fostering a culture of open dialogue. Many left the event feeling inspired to carry the lessons of civil discourse into their academic and personal lives.

Building connections

The collaboration between Courageous Conversations and UFlourish marks an important step in UCalgary’s commitment to fostering an inclusive campus where students, postdoctoral scholars, staff and faculty can engage in civil discourse in ways that are mindful of a duty of care and community well-being.

“Bringing two great UCalgary initiatives together behind this event really signals that this is an important issue and to bring urgency as something that needs to be address on our campus,” says Dr. Andrew Szeto, PhD, Director of Mental Health Strategy, Office of the Provost. “With this collaboration, we also hope to transcend the siloed nature of work at post-secondary institutions, this issue is not just inherent to one department or group at UCalgary but something that spans our whole UCalgary community and beyond.”

As attendees departed, the message was clear: meaningful change begins with the courage to listen, learn and “speak out loud together” in a way that respects the dignity of everyone.

“In an environment of polarization, declining trust in institutions, and over-heated debates online and in-person, it was important for Courageous Conversations and UFlourish to collaborate in hosting Dr. Randy Boyagoda’s discussion on how and why we urgently need to foster civil discourse. Courageous Conversations are not about politeness or avoiding heated debate,” says Dr. Smith.  “Rather, we must think about the aim of civil discourse, the terms of respectful debate, the importance of developing a share understanding and the value of learning to disagree without being unduly disagreeable. In a university, we also need to be mindful of a duty of care to our students, staff and faculty, and the important role universities play in fostering pluralism and learning to live well together.”