Diversity-related training is one of the most contentious issues in higher education today. They have become embedded in the culture wars and spark intense moral disagreements. Musa al-Gharbi, a Fellow in Sociology at Columbia University, has done a deep dive into the research on the efficacy of these trainings. In today’s episode, we speak with Musa and listen to his blog, “‘Diversity Training’ Doesn’t Work. This Might.” To engage deeper with Musa’s ideas, check out his three-part series on diversity-related training. “Diversity-Related Training: What is it Good For?” “You’ve Been Mandated to Do Ineffective Training. Now What?” “‘Diversity Training’ Doesn’t Work: This Might.’” For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. Stay up to date with Musa on Twitter @musa_alGharbi. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Musa’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

Could the French postmodern philosopher, Michel Foucault or American Gender theorist, Judith Butler provide us with arguments for the value of viewpoint diversity? For increasing the number of conservative faculty members on college campuses? Alice Dreger thinks so. Today’s blog, written by Alice, a Heterodox Academy Advisory Council Member and the author of four books, most notably, Galileo’s Middle Finger, is an exquisite reflection on one academic feminist’s journey into and through the “science wars” - a divide between those who thought science could obtain objective truth and those who thought truth was a social-construction - and the lessons that she learned in the process. Her piece is called, “Could Feminism (Again) Provide an Argument for More Conservatives?” To engage deeper with Dreger’s ideas, check out our related posts “Difference and Repetition in the Viewpoint Diversity Space” by Musa al-Gharbi, “Towards an Ethics of Activism” by Frances Lee, and “Callosal Failure: One Hundred Years of Viewpoint Diversity Activism” by Musa al-Gharbi. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. Stay up to date with Dreger on Twitter @AliceDreger. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org.   This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Musa’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

Do you have a friend, family member, or neighbor whose views you just cannot stand? They seem to have jumped off the deep end, living in a land of conspiracies and false truths? And you know, at the core of your heart, that they are just wrong? If so, this episode is for you. Today’s blog, written by Musa al-Gharbi, the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow in Sociology at Columbia University, is about persuasion, but also about humility, and owning up to the fact that most of the time, we know less than we are willing to acknowledge. The piece is called, “Three Strategies for Navigating Moral Disagreements” and is narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. Stay up to date with Musa on Twitter @musa_alGharbi. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacaemy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Musa’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, Glenn Geher, Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of the Evolutionary Studies Program at the State University of New York, New Paltz tells us the story of when he invited Dr. Lionel Tiger, the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, to campus to speak on the value of the evolutionary perspective on the modern world, and how it became a day he would never forget.  His piece is called, “Politics, Evolution, and Gender: A Heterodox Firestorm and Lessons Learned” To engage deeper with Geher’s ideas, check out our related posts “Why Universities Must Choose One: Truth or Social Justice” by Jonathan Haidt, “On Truth and Ideology in Academia” by Christian Alejandro Gonzalez, and “Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype Undermine the Search For Truth” by Musa Al-Gharbi. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Geher’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart. Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

Political polarization has become a defining feature of modern American life. Research surrounding the 2020 election from Pew Research Center demonstrated that - a month before the election, roughly eight-in-ten registered voters in both [left and right] camps said their differences with the other side were about core American values, and roughly nine-in-ten worried that a victory by their opponents would lead to ‘lasting harm’ to the United States. In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, we meet Erec Smith, Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, who is trying to heal America’s deep divisions through, well of course, Rhetoric and the understanding of Discourse. His piece is called, “A Rhetoric of Common Values.” To engage deeper with Smith’s ideas, check out our related posts “Don’t Dismiss Debate” by Meg Mott, “Reducing Political Polarization Through Campus Dialogues,” by Matt Burgess and Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey, and “Both Sides Now: From Debate to Dialogue” by Deb Mashek and Judith Shapiro. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Smith’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart. Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, we meet Amanda, a 20-year-old White female college student, who told her therapist, Andrew Hartz, that she “identified” as Black. Today’s piece, “Splitting and Identity Politics,” was written by Andrew Hartz, a Postdoc Fellow at Rose Hill Psychological Institute. Hartz explores the pitfalls of a psychological phenomena known as “Splitting,” a form of black and white thinking, especially on sensitive issues related to race, class, and gender, and the role that universities can play in promoting more nuanced thought and dialogue among their student bodies. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Hartz’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart. Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

On today's episode of Heterodox Out Loud, we discuss how the death of George Floyd in May of 2020 led to calls for racial justice that have spread rapidly throughout the United States and beyond. As they search for solutions to the deeply complex issues around race in America, many schools, organizations, and corporations have embraced the ideas of best selling author, Ibram X. Kendi, whose best known for his book, "How to Be an Antiracist." In the spirit of exploring diverse viewpoints, we bring you a blog by Jeffrey Aaron Snyder, Associate Professor of Educational Studies at Carleton College. The piece is called “Why Ibram Kendi’s Antiracism is So Flawed.” To engage deeper with Snyder’s ideas, check out our related posts “To be Sensible About Race is ‘Not Blaming the Victim’” by John McWhorter, “On the Authority of Experience in Black Thought by Randall Kennedy,” and “The Importance of Intrapersonal Empowerment in American Race Race Relations” by Erec Smith.Stay up to date with Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyASnyder. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org.This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Snyder’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart.Heterodox Out Loud is an ongoing series of selected pieces from heterodox: the blog in audio form with exclusive interviews.  Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

For the past few months at Heterodox Academy, we’ve been focusing on the contributions of Black scholars, the diversity of perspectives among them, and the tensions around representation in institutions of higher learning. In this episode, we bring to you Randall Kennedy, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and his blog piece “On the Authority of Experience in Black thought.” To engage deeper with Kennedy’s ideas, check out our related posts “To be Sensible About Race is ‘Not Blaming the Victim’” by John McWhorter, “Arguments for and Against Capitalism in the Black Intellectual Tradition” by Fabio Rojas, and “The Importance of Intrapersonal Empowerment in American Race Race Relations” by Erec Smith. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode was hosted by Zach Rausch. The artwork was inspired by Randall’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart. Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, Sociologist Musa Al-Gharbi makes the case as to why ideological diversity in social research and pedagogy is an important cause to fight for - even for those who may be skeptical of its benefits. Musa’s piece is titled, “Why We Should Care About Ideological Diversity in The Academy.” To engage deeper with Musa’s ideas, check out our related posts “What Are The Limits of Viewpoint Diversity” by Nick Phillips, “Religion: A Viewpoint Diversity Blind Spot?” by Seth Kaplan, and “Viewpoint Diversity Does Not Extend to Extremist Hate” by Ilana Redstone. Stay up to date with Musa on Twitter @musa_alGharbi. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode's artwork was inspired by Musa’s piece and was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud

When it comes to the production of knowledge the value of viewpoint diversity cannot be overstated. For simple problems, or well established technicalities, we may not need multiple viewpoints, but wicked problems can only be addressed by engaging with diverse points of view. Yet, not all points of view are equal, and certainly not all of them belong in the academy. In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, lawyer and former HxA researcher, Nick Phillips, grapples with a central dilemma at the heart of Heterodox Academy: What are the limits of viewpoint diversity? The original blog, "What are the Limits of Viewpoint Diversity," was first published on March 5, 2018 and can be read here. To engage more with questions around the value and boundaries of viewpoint diversity, check out our related posts “Why We Should Care About Ideological Diversity in The Academy” by Musa Al-Gharbi, “Religion: A Viewpoint Diversity Blind Spot?” by Seth Kaplan, and “Viewpoint Diversity Does Not Extend to Extremist Hate” by Ilana Redstone. For comments and questions email communications@heterodoxacademy.org. This episode's artwork was created by Lexi Polokoff. You can follow her on Instagram @lexipolokoffart Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF 🔗 Find out more about Heterodox Academy at: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud