Universities need to work to recover “intimate educational spaces” that were lost in the pandemic to enable “tricky” conversations, according to the founder of a new centre that aims to foster viewpoint diversity.

Eitan Hersh, professor of political science at Tufts University, founded the Centre for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education after seeing how popular his course on American conservatism was.

“Across the university, not just in political science, there are areas where the discussion around sensitive topics of politics and culture and religion is a little stifled, like students are afraid to try out an idea,” he told ̽����Ƶ.

“There just needs to be a space on campus for people to get resources to learn, teach and do research in ways that will confront difficult issues head on and do it in a responsible and thoughtful way.”

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The centre, which aims to embrace and encourage a greater variety of perspectives, is a few months old and has received “amazing student interest so far”.

“The students are really motivated and I think they’re thirsty for a place on campus that is intellectual, and can be a place to tackle and discuss these difficult issues of the day,” added Hersh.

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He said that there are many people within academia who believe hosting a conversation on a sensitive issue like race or gender identity can be “literally harmful to students from minority groups”.

“I think that’s quite a dangerous place for a university to be. I think you need to be in a place where you can opt in, you don’t have to be part of conversations you don’t want to be part of, but if you want to be in a classroom environment where you discuss some of these difficult issues, there should be a home to do that.”

In the wake of continued attacks on the sector from the Trump administration, some have argued that US institutions need to reform their approach to viewpoint diversity.

“Many universities like Tufts have gotten a reputation for being progressive places…and I think in my view, a university should be a platform for lots of different discussions and debates,” said Hersh.

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“We are not a participant in an ideological fight. We are a venue for an ideological fight.”

The centre will host events with a diversity of speakers, as well as conduct research to expand viewpoints represented in higher education curricula on a variety of topics, such as immigration and gender and sexuality.

Hersh does not allow computers or use overhead slides in his lessons, and he advocates a “completely offline” classroom.

“If you’re going to have a conversation about a difficult issue, people need to make eye contact, they need to give each other grace.

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“A lot of this may be attributable to Covid…I think there’s a lot of work to do to recover the intimate educational spaces that should be part of universities.”

Hersh said the offline approach of his classes is another way of engaging students, and provides them with something that they cannot get through watching lectures online at a time of their choosing.

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“A university should not be something that you could get just as well through an online Zoom experience, and some of that is obviously students networking with each other, but I think a lot of that is exactly what I’m trying to prioritise, which is cultivating mature citizenship.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com