Embracing Disagreements as a Tool for Deeper Understanding

What if disagreement didn’t mean disconnection?

Aspen Institute Socrates Program invited college interns and recent graduates in D.C. for a seminar on disagreement, cancel culture, and holding space for complexity on campuses.

The group celebrated different backgrounds, ideologies, geographies, and schools. They held space for each other, listened deeply, asked to understand, and even invited each other over to break bread after the seminar.

What was most telling was hearing the group share how special and rare it was to sit with their peers across difference and speak and listen without anger or fear. To build trust and make space for hard conversations. To express shared hopes about their studies and the role of universities.

May it inspire all of them to build brave spaces for disagreement that can hold complexity and allow groups to stay together through it – hopefully even to build, not break, friendships.

This event was imagined and designed by Grant Garland, our incredible summer intern. From the participants to the texts, he led the effort, focusing on welcoming in differences during this critical moment on campuses. And, thank you to my co-moderator and colleague Sarah Frey for helping to expertly guide the discussion.

We need more rooms like this—on campuses, in workplaces, in communities—where disagreement isn’t dangerous, but a bridge. If you’d like to partner with Socrates to host brave conversations, let’s talk.