← The issue Alumni DigestU of T

39Ideas / Public life

A course that makes room for disagreement

A summer course on global controversies asks students to argue carefully before they argue loudly.

Reported by U of T News Staff

Jason Stanley teaches students to navigate difficult global issues with clarity and care.
IdeasJason Stanley teaches students to navigate difficult global issues with clarity and care.Photo: University of Toronto / supplied image

The Understanding Global Controversies course treats disagreement as a skill. Students work through fascism, imperialism, colonialism and genocide without pretending that complexity can be reduced to a quick opinion.

Its method is refreshingly practical: learn the history, listen for what is missing and make an argument that can survive another person’s question.

Sources 1
  1. Original reporting · utoronto.ca
Next · p.40A basketball tournament makes its own courtA first-year student helps create a women’s collegiate tournament in Canada’s North, turning an idea into a gathering.

Chapter 06 · Campus LifeRead it in the issue →

More from Campus Life

p.38 · Campus LifeDifferent flags, one Varsity Blues rhythmp.40 · Campus LifeA basketball tournament makes its own courtp.41 · Campus LifeSuccess becomes useful when it is passed on

A summer issue about the people, places and questions that keep the University of Toronto moving when the timetable loosens.

This story is from the August 2026 issue of Alumni Digest · U of T. It's free, monthly and independent.

Subscribe freeRead the whole issue

Alumni Digest is independent and is not an official University of Toronto publication. Stories summarize the public reporting linked under each piece; photographs belong to the credited sources and remain under rights review.