What happens when people with deeply opposing views actually listen to each other? Doug Sprei of the College Debates and Discourse Alliance shares stories from more than 300 campus debates designed to help students disagree without dehumanizing one another. In one unforgettable moment, two students with radically different perspectives speak back-to-back, and the entire room shifts from tension to genuine listening. The episode explores why students are hungry for spaces where they can speak openly, challenge ideas, and be heard with respect. It’s a conversation about how debate—done well—can restore curiosity, courage, and humanity to public disagreement.

Re-release from January 2025. When We Disagree is on spring break!

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Veteran lobbyist and community mediator Michael Covington shares lessons from a career spent navigating conflict in South Carolina politics and public life. From tense racial disputes over highway construction to behind-the-scenes statehouse negotiations, he explains why confronting problems directly, as well as listening carefully, can unlock progress. Covington argues that persuasion starts with understanding what people already believe and building from there. Along the way, he reflects on bias, the power of simple communication, and the surprising role of the scientific method in public reasoning. It’s a conversation about patience, persuasion, and why engaging the people you disagree with still matters.

Re-release from 2025. When We Disagree is on spring break!

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What happens when a college dedicated to civil dialogue goes on Tucker Carlson Tonight? In this episode, Phelosha Collaros of St. John's College, famous for its "Great Books" program, recounts the social media firestorm that erupted after her president appeared on Tucker Carlson. Outrage came from both the left and the right. The backlash forced a hard question: Is conversation complicity, or is it the bare minimum for democracy? Drawing on her family’s history of partisan violence in Colombia and her work with DepolarWise, Collaros reflects on tribalism, human dignity, and the daily discipline of depolarization. It’s a candid look at what ideological diversity really means.

Originally aired on 3/19/25. When We Disagree returns from spring break soon!

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