Duke University has received a $2 million award from The Duke Endowment for a new initiative aimed at fostering free inquiry and constructive discourse at the university.  

The Provost’s Initiative on Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging creates new opportunities for student, faculty and staff learning across the university, including programs to help students conduct constructive conversations across diverse perspectives and faculty to better support student skill development.

In addition, the initiative provides opportunities for faculty to develop new courses, conduct research connected to the themes of pluralism, free inquiry, and belonging, and bring speakers and visiting scholars with different perspectives to campus. 

“The ability to engage with differing perspectives is essential to a vibrant academic community that can cultivate the next generation of leaders for our world,” said Alec D. Gallimore, provost and chief academic officer of Duke. “In the United States alone today, polls show decreasing interest in understanding and seeing others as fellow citizens. This new initiative is a commitment to fostering an environment where meaningful dialogue and mutual respect can thrive.” 

While Duke has long prioritized and fostered open discourse and free inquiry, today’s social and cultural environments highlight the need to recommit to these values. 

Several recent efforts demonstrate that commitment, including The Polarization Lab, which brings together scholars from the social sciences, statistics, and computer science to study how to bridge the U.S. partisan divide; and The North Carolina Leadership Forum, which provides an opportunity for N.C. civic, business, and political leaders to advance mutually acceptable solutions that improve the lives of North Carolinians.

Most recently, Gallimore launched the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, an ongoing effort to create space at Duke for constructive conversation on conflicts in the region among people of different perspectives and points of view.

A number of the programs affiliated with the Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging initiative will bring together key Duke offices working with students and faculty, including the Office for Faculty Advancement, Student Affairs, The Graduate School, and the Office of Undergraduate Education. Among the activities already planned in 2025:

• the first in a series of lectures on pluralism hosted by the Duke Chapel;
• a conference on intellectual friendship sponsored by Duke’s Transformative Ideas program and the Civil Discourse Project at the Sanford School of Public Policy; and
• a series of public conversations on democracy sponsored by the Political Science department.

“This is a critical time to build a distinctively Duke, community-wide approach to fostering the underlying habits and skills necessary for mutual respect, community, and constructive conversations,” said Candis Watts Smith, interim vice provost for undergraduate education, a professor of political science, and a faculty in residence living with her family in a Duke residence hall. “I interact every day with brilliant Duke students who are looking for answers to the biggest challenges of our day. This is the time to learn how to be the best kinds of citizens for our future world.”

Abbas Benmamoun, vice provost for faculty advancement, and Noah Pickus, associate provost, serve as the initiative’s co-principal investigators. They will partner with the deans and their schools and key programs including Duke’s Office of Institutional Equity and The Kenan Institute for Ethics to develop a campus-wide, integrated approach to support existing efforts and creating new ones.

“As an academic institution, our mission is to educate, explore ideas and interrogate them, and share what we learn,” said Benmamoun. “For this new initiative to succeed in an increasingly diverse society and academic context, the university must both support and challenge every one of its members to be part of it. The willingness to be curious and open to different views and the humility to know the limitations of one’s understanding are essential to learning and advancing knowledge.”

Pickus noted that the initiative will work with faculty to develop a deeper understanding of the issues around pluralism, free inquiry, and belonging and develop tools and strategies for embedding those values in teaching and mentoring programs. He added that Duke is fortunate to have excellent faculty who are leaders in this area, and the initiative will work with them to amplify their impact.

“On Duke’s campus, our aim is to change this dynamic by cultivating a culture of deeper and more profound engagement with each other,” Pickus said.

The Duke Endowment’s funding will support the new initiative for three years, said Charles C. Lucas III, chair of The Duke Endowment Board of Trustees.

“The Duke Endowment is strongly committed to this initiative and sees it as essential to the success of Duke’s core mission,” Lucas said. “We are happy to support the university’s work to advance these important conversations.”

Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Caroline by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed more than $5 billion in grants. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.