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Classroom policies/strategies for free expression and inclusion?

Brian Leiter

Philosopher Jason Swartwood (Saint Paul College) writes:

As a reader of your blog, I appreciate the discussions of free expression and academic freedom that often take place there.  One aspect I haven't seen much discussion of is classroom policies in which instructors explicitly state and discuss with students the value of free expression in their classroom so as to encourage productive discussion.  Since I teach mostly controversial topics (in Ethics, Bioethics, and Feminist Philosophy courses, especially), I find it very helpful to explicitly discuss what will be our shared standards on the first day of class.  This has so far (fingers crossed!) helped students deal productively with their discomfort even when we're discussing things such as (to pick probably the most inflammatory examples) gender critical views of gender or Tuvel's transracialism analogy.  

I thought it would be nice to have a discussion of what other faculty do to proactively head-off misguided attempts to stifle free expression in the classroom while also promoting an inclusive classroom atmosphere.  As an example of what I mean, I have a classroom policy I use posted on my website, along with exercises I do on the first day to get students talking about it.  Given the volatile climate we live in, I thought it would be useful to share ideas about how we proactively promote and model important values like free expression and inclusion.

Comments are open for suggestions and ideas from readers.

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2 responses to “Classroom policies/strategies for free expression and inclusion?”

  1. Raja Halwani

    Hi,

    I also discuss my policies on the first day regarding freedom of expression in the class. I do this by telling the students that all views are welcome as long as they attempt to provide reasons in their support. I also warn them that we will be reading about potentially difficult issues, that I expect students to debate each other, and that this should not be taken personally (here, I ask them to not use personal stories in their discussion because others find it difficult to reply to what they rightly consider a personal and sensitive issue; instead, I ask them to convert a personal example into a fictional one: "Suppose that someone, let's call them X, …"). Most crucially, as a way to justify to my students my policies and to illustrate the notion of an argument, I have them read for the first day of class the relevant parts of Mill's "On Liberty" where he lays out the arguments for hearing true and false opinions, which we discuss.

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  2. Jason Swartwood

    Hi Prof. Halwani,

    Thanks for sharing these ideas! My motivation for wanting to start a discussion was partly that I think teachers are in a good position to promote the value of academic freedom (if there is some erosion of respect for academic freedom in our culture, it's not some freight train whose impending impact we can only passively await) and partly that I think it's part of our job to teach students the skill of having productive discussions about controversial issues. Your activities seem like they'd be useful on both of these fronts, so I appreciate you sharing them. (Also, I've found your work in philosophy of sex to be useful in promoting good discussions, so thanks for that, too!)

    I like your idea of having the guideline about anonymizing personal stories — that seems like a solid concrete guideline that would promote more productive discussions by focusing on the arguments, and examining those portions of On Liberty seems like a great way to justify rules like that (and the academic freedom they're designed to promote) while also teaching some basic argument concepts.

    I've found that two additional challenges are: (a) getting students invested in the values of free expression and inclusion and the class guidelines that promote them and (b) giving them some tools for adjudicating apparent conflicts between free expression and inclusion. To address those, I've found it useful to do an exercise that has them examine scenarios I've written (often based upon things that have happened in my classes) and use those to develop guidelines and rules for how to best promote free expression and inclusion. These include guidelines like: focus on arguments, not people; seek to justify what you say; seek to understand opposing views and relevant but overlooked perspectives; express yourself in ways that keep the discussion going rather than shut it down; etc. Looking at the case studies also gives them an idea of mistakes to avoid and helps prevent people from feeling so surprised and unequipped if tension arises. (I have them read my classroom free expression and inclusion policy first: https://www.jasonswartwood.com/teaching#h.p_zd70TkqM5pnF. Then, I have them do the exercise: https://www.jasonswartwood.com/teaching#h.p_bV4DdgdM5vuH.)

    I suspect that different strategies and activities will work best for different populations. I teach at community and technical college with a diverse (for Minnesota!) student body, but perhaps different strategies would work better for different courses or institutions. But it seems like all students can likely get better at having productive discussions, and doing so is a skill that requires practice, so I view it as part of the job to set the stage with explicit expectations. I'm curious if others have a different view or have found different challenges or different strategies for meeting them.

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