Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue at Harvard

Published October 1, 2024

Dear Members of the Harvard Community,

For the past six months, the Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group has sought to understand how we communicate with one another and how we might do better. It has explored how we experience our classrooms and the broader campus environment. It has researched how we teach and learn. And it has assessed how various tools and techniques support robust debate and rigorous discourse. We write now to share the Group’s report and recommendations.
 
Drawn from Faculties from across the University, the Working Group hosted 23 listening sessions, conducted online surveys, and gathered direct input from students, faculty, staff, and alumni representing every Harvard School. More than 600 affiliates participated in the listening sessions, while thousands more lent their perspectives through surveys and correspondence. Thank you to all who took the time to share their views—we need to hear from all parts of our community if the work ahead is to be fully successful. As the report states, “excellence through the free and respectful exchange of ideas demands much of every member of the community.”

The insights gleaned from these many points of engagement are detailed in the report, which notes that some community members are reluctant to share their views or to discuss controversial issues because they fear being judged by peers, criticized on social media, or subjected to reputational or professional damage. To address and help overcome this reluctance, the Working Group highlights good work already under way across our campus to cultivate habits, norms, and practices supporting open inquiry and constructive dialogue. These efforts informed the Working Group’s own wide-ranging recommendations, including the establishment of norms, propagation of best teaching practices, creation of new teaching modules, and development of responsible social media policies.

We accept the recommendations of the Working Group and look forward to working with the deans, faculty, staff, and students to put them into practice. Our work will undoubtedly take time and will take many forms across the University. As our community rededicates itself to this vital pursuit, we encourage you to read the report and use it as a resource in efforts—large and small—to further open inquiry and constructive dialogue. More about the report is available in this Gazette Q&A.
 
As we noted when we announced the Working Group in April, excellence in discovery and learning requires the ability to try ideas on for size, to explore them fully, to challenge accepted wisdom, to disagree productively, and to take risks. We are immensely grateful to the members of the Working Group, especially co-chairs Tomiko Brown-Nagin and Eric Beerbohm, for their tremendous contribution to this important effort. As the report notes, we are at an “inflection point in the history of our institution, our nation, and the world,” and “we must practice—even enshrine—habits, norms, and practices that facilitate the excellence for which we all strive.” This report points the way.

Sincerely,

Alan M. Garber

President

 John F. Manning

Provost