About - Dean - Speeches & Writing - On Viewpoint Diversity

I remember the moment vividly. We were discussing a firm facing a significant technological disruption and the challenges leadership faced in motivating employees to embrace a difficult transition. I encouraged students to share their own experiences with leading under distress. A few students shared specific situations from their work experiences and how they or their bosses addressed them. Then a hand came up from one of the military veterans in the class. He calmly shared his experience of leading his platoon during a deadly campaign in Iraq. In an instant, the discussion on crisis leadership took on greater significance, with a deeper appreciation for leading “under fire.”

At Darden, our transformative learning environment is enriched by the unique perspectives and experiences that each student brings to the classroom. Their prior work experience, their upbringing, their interests and activities — all provide fodder for discussion. The case method requires students to state and defend decisions and opinions. As we grapple with the best course of action, insights from the diverse student experiences in the room help us navigate the unavoidable uncertainty and complexity underlying real-world decisions. This is why we seek to assemble a diverse class of students who represent a wide-ranging set of perspectives and experiences.

Given this, I have been surprised by the recent emphasis on “viewpoint” diversity as a counter to traditional diversity efforts that have come under attack at universities. Wasn’t surfacing diverse viewpoints always the point? More often than not, viewpoint diversity has come to refer to a particular form of diversity — political leanings. In our politically charged times, I could not agree more that our students must hear from a wide array of political opinions and perspectives. At Darden, we have a globally diverse student and faculty body representing 67 different countries. As a result, we can have discussions that touch on politics and policy that go beyond the simple red vs. blue and Republican vs. Democrat divides in the United States.

The challenge, of course, is how to ensure viewpoint diversity, political or otherwise, in the classroom. Recent federal guidance and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling have made clear that we cannot build diversity by targeting protected classes in our admissions and hiring decisions, including race, gender and national origin. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that one’s unique viewpoint is informed by one’s identity and experiences, including those protected elements. My upbringing in a steel mill town in eastern Pennsylvania shapes my viewpoint. My status as a husband and father shapes my viewpoint. My experience as a faculty member and university administrator shapes my viewpoint. Being able-bodied shapes my viewpoint. The totality of my identity and experiences shapes the perspective I bring to the classroom.

So how do we ensure that we have diverse identities and experiences that lead to diverse viewpoints? First and foremost, we need to look broadly when attracting talent to our community, whether it be admitting students or hiring faculty and staff. Only through a broad pool of potential talent can we have a broad pool of viewpoints. This includes searching for students, faculty and staff in familiar as well as less familiar places both here and across the globe and creating the conditions under which they wish to be part of our community, specifically an engaging and inclusive community where all feel welcomed and valued even when they have views and beliefs that are counter to others in the community.

Which informs my second point: we need to ensure that our community, including the classroom environment, is welcoming to all viewpoints. This is not to say that we all need to agree on those views. Quite the opposite. We should defend our point of view with passion. Yet, we must be willing to listen and engage with viewpoints with which we may disagree. This last point is critical so that no one fears being ostracized for sharing unpopular positions. Faculty have a special obligation to ensure that their classrooms foster an environment where students feel comfortable sharing diverse viewpoints.

Which gets us to a third condition: we need to ultimately value differences in viewpoints, not just tolerate them. What can I learn from a viewpoint that I disagree with? How can we leverage diverse viewpoints to make better decisions and achieve better outcomes? My colleague at Darden, Martin Davidson, has written extensively about leveraging difference. As he states, “Creating a truly diverse and inclusive community requires the willingness and discipline to see the differences that matter in that community and to engage when those differences create tension and discord.”¹

I like the notion of intentionality central to Martin’s point. We do not create the student learning environment we desire at Darden by simply throwing a bunch of diverse students with diverse viewpoints into a room. We need to actively create the conditions where those viewpoints are seen, understood and valued. When diverse viewpoints come into tension, we need to lean in and engage those differences. This is central to Socratic exchange and case-based learning. This is crucial for the critical thinking skills we seek to develop in the classroom and beyond. While we may ultimately agree to disagree, we see the value of diverse viewpoints and the benefits to our own decision-making that active engagement with them provides.

1. Martin Davidson. leveragingdifference.com blog. August 22nd, 2017. ↩