New course encourages students to embrace disagreement

A new course being offered in spring 2026 will give students the chance to consider some of the most polarizing issues in our world today - and get more comfortable having uncomfortable conversations about them.

The class, Disagreement, will be taught by Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and professor of government; Davide Napoli, a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in A&S and an expert on ancient Athenian debate; and a group of leading professors from across the College.

The one-credit course will have space for 270 students. Loewen said the class will be engaging and encouraged students from an array of majors across the university to enroll.

"The ability to confront and move through disagreement is a skill that effective scholars and effective citizens need to cultivate, and it's a skill that often seems missing in our country today," Loewen said. "It's at the heart of a healthy university, a healthy democracy and any healthy relationship."

Read the full story on The College of Arts & Sciences website.