FLASHPOINTS Vignette - Controversial Topics

A professor (White, female) asks students to share their final project plans. A Jewish student says he is going to focus on Israel as the ancestral homeland of the Jews. A Palestinian student challenges him and says that it is their land. A third student says that she is also Jewish but believes in Palestinian justice and doesn’t like the proposed project either. Discussion: What should faculty do when there are within-class frictions about controversial political topics? Should the conflict be responded to directly? Avoided? What is the role of faculty when there is conflict between students? Should faculty share their own feelings or attempt to remain “neutral”? How do we distinguish between “facts” and “opinions”? How should misinformation be challenge?