Navigating Difficult Conversations in Higher Education: Resources and Readings

The principles below can help with difficult conversations. For more information, please check the resources following these principles.

1. Academia is a place to have conversations about current events
2. Discussion customs should be established early in the course. It is hard to establish “new” processes during highly emotional/charged conversations.
3. Show empathy. Understand that people connect to these issues from a variety of cognitive and emotional reasons. I try not to imply approval but instead that I understand the emotional component.
4. Direct the conversation to where you are in the course/study. Ask questions that get students to think about current events in the context of the course material.
5. Direct the conversation so that people are not attacking each other. Direct the comments back to the context of the course material.
6. Make yourself available to students to talk privately if they get entangled in the heat of the moment.
7. If it comes up, don’t ignore it. If you aren’t prepared, let the student(s) know that you aren’t fully prepared to discuss the issue but make sure you revisit very soon. It’s OK to say, “Like you, I’m upset about XX so I haven’t had time to think about it. Let’s come back to this next time we talk.”
8. Be aware of yourself. Take a moment to think through your answers. Don’t get caught up in your own personal reaction.