Disagree With a Professor is an event series that brings together students and faculty for low-stakes disagreement on a variety of both contested and lighthearted topics. At the heart of each event, faculty challenge students with a set of statements, ranging from controversial issues to debates within their discipline to more casual pop culture takes. In small groups, students and faculty constructively disagree with one another about the presented statements and perspectives. In doing so, they practice dialogue that embodies intellectual humility and increases their own comfort with and capacity to engage in disagreement.

Disagree With a Professor was popularized by Think Again, a faculty-led initiative at the University of Virginia (UVA). Think Again promotes freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, intellectual humility, and critical thinking through student-facing events across the university. Think Again’s founding director, HxA member Mary Kate Cary, who also serves as deputy chief of staff for the UVA president, began the initiative after polling by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) suggested that 69% of UVA students would not be comfortable expressing their views on a controversial topic in the classroom, and 77% would feel uncomfortable publicly disagreeing with a professor. 

At the same time, students are hungry for opportunities to connect with others in conversation over these topics. Disagree With A Professor events offer students a way to practice talking through controversial issues among peers and faculty without the pressure of a classroom setting, allowing them dedicated space to take risks and even get things wrong. The initiative has been highly successful at UVA, and its low-stakes model makes it easy to replicate at other institutions (see, for example, the Disagree With a Professor events hosted at the College of Charleston).

The guide below offers inspiration and practical steps on how to host Disagree With a Professor events on your campus.

Download this resource guide to learn how to:

• Build the right partnerships and recruit faculty across disciplines, with timelines, outreach strategies, and a ready-to-use email template.
• Establish ground rules and conversational norms that encourage curiosity over persuasion, helping participants engage with ideas rather than attack individuals.
• Evaluate effectiveness with sample pre- and post-event surveys, plus best practices for protecting privacy, boosting attendance, and keeping discussions on track.