What It Means to Disagree, Admit a Degree of Uncertainty, and Maintain a Robust Friendship: A Dialogue

What It Means to Disagree, Admit a Degree of Uncertainty, and Maintain a Robust Friendship: A Dialogue

Date: November 20, 2020
Time: 12:00pm MT
Where: Virtual
Recording: https://youtu.be/wEhD1yQC8WA

Patty Limerick, director of the Center of the American West, and Jennifer Ho, director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts, talked about what it means to disagree. The partisan politics and extreme divisiveness of our current society have made many of us wary about entering into provocative subjects. How do we maintain unity when we confront divided opinions? How can we respect one another while vehemently debating topics we feel passionate about? Is it possible to separate the person from the provocation? Patty and Jennifer discussed all of this throughout the dialogue (and for many years to come!), modeling civil disagreement, robust curiosity about one another’s positions, and respectful friendship. Co-sponsored by the Center for American West.

I have always felt fortunate to have Jennifer Ho as my colleague at CU, and there is no one whose company I would prefer over hers, when it comes to an energetic exploration of some of the most important issues confronting higher education today. Anyone who has been alarmed by reports and rumors that the expression of belief, principle, and opinion has become constrained in universities today will have, with this program, a chance to see that academic discussion remains invigorating, robust, good-natured, and, often enough, pretty darned funny!

- Patty Limerick

Lunch with Limerick is a one-hour virtual lunch-time series where Patty Limerick interviewed a range of guests on current issues and a variety of topics relevant to the West and beyond.