好色先生TV

A new Grand Challenge Seminar in 好色先生TV鈥檚 Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences this past fall offered 40 first-year students a comprehensive exploration of the principles, controversies and significance of freedom of speech and academic freedom.

Co-taught by Richard Scheines, Bess Family Dean of the Dietrich College, and Sharon Carver, a psychology professor who is director of CMU鈥檚 Children鈥檚 School and associate dean for Educational Affairs, the course featured guest speakers from multiple disciplines and presented actual and hypothetical cases for students to examine through the lenses of philosophy, history, psychology and law.

鈥淲e emphasized from the start of the class that the topics were going to be sensitive and controversial, and that people were going to have to be very respectful and tolerant. It seemed to work really well. The students were very engaged and thoughtful,鈥� Scheines said.

As each new case was introduced, students were asked to submit their baseline opinions through Slido, a Q&A polling platform used to gather audience insights during live or virtual meetings and events. Then, the class broke into small groups to discuss the case for five to 10 minutes.聽

First-year student Charles Nutbrown said the seminar was unlike any teaching he鈥檇 experienced before.聽

鈥淭here was a mix of almost every type of major, discipline and interest, which allowed for every individual to provide a unique experience on the content being presented. Disagreement and debate on the issues were encouraged, and techniques on how to support that type of debate were presented throughout the semester,鈥� Nutbrown said. 鈥淚n other words, this class did not just teach freedom of speech and academic freedom, it taught how to be a better presenter and leader.鈥�

Carver said if they were going to teach students the importance of working across disciplines, then it only made sense they should explicitly teach best practices for collaboration, an emphasis of all Grand Challenge Seminars at the university.聽

鈥淏y bringing different perspectives to a difficult topic, you鈥檙e more likely to get a holistic approach to analyzing a situation,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou may not solve the problem, but you can get a broader analysis, a deeper understanding, and that helps you to be more ready to flexibly respond to situations that arise during implementation.鈥�

When the Israel-Hamas war broke out mid-semester, students began to apply what they were learning in real time.聽

鈥淭he students were terrific,鈥� Scheines said. 鈥淎s volatile and difficult as these issues are, the discussion was good. When people were given the time to stretch out and say what they thought, others learned from it. The students who were a bit partisan came to appreciate the alternative perspective, and those who came in a bit detached from the conflict came to appreciate how complicated the background to this conflict really is. In the end, the students voiced all the nuance and complexity of the topics. It was very encouraging to see how much better an academic classroom context is compared to something like social media.鈥�

The seminar鈥檚 guest speakers were primarily from CMU and included Dan Munsch, assistant general counsel, who presented on the law and freedom of expression; Nico Slate, head of the Department of History, who discussed civil liberties and civil rights from a historical perspective; Mark Kamlet, former provost and current co-director of the Collaboratory Against Hate, who spoke on the history of academic freedom; Simon Cullen from the Department of Philosophy, who talked about freedom of speech and college students; Chris Warren, associate department head of English, who spoke about freedom of the press, beginning with John Milton鈥檚 publication of 鈥淎reopagitica鈥� in 1644; Gina Casalegno, who shared her experiences as vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students; and Amy Burkert, vice provost for education, who offered insights from having navigated freedom of speech and academic freedom issues while working to establish CMU鈥檚 international campuses.

Panel discussions featured Jonathan Caulkins and Roberta Klatzky, co-vice chairs of CMU鈥檚聽 Commission on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, and a guest associated with , a non-profit organization based in Pittsburgh that helps writers exiled from their home countries because of their controversial writing.聽