New Center to Bring Wider Political Perspectives to Tufts and Other Universities

Two years ago, Eitan Hersh, A05, a professor of political science, started offering a class called American Conservatism, using a social science lens to focus on public policy. It proved to be a big hit, drawing full attendance—and the attention of outside media such as the Wall Street Journal. 

Hersh thought that the hunger of his mostly politically liberal students to learn more about a wide set of viewpoints in American politics deserved more than a single class. Most elite universities in America are liberal, he says, with students and faculty living in a bubble. That doesn’t help students learn about the complex world they will be working and living in, nor help faculty be as effective as they could be in teaching and research. 

As he devised his course in 2022, Hersh thought of a way to bring wider political perspectives to higher education. That effort is now taking the form of the new Tufts Center for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education.

“We want to be good teachers, learners, and scholars,” says Hersh, founding director of the center. “And we can’t do that unless we’re learning from a lot of different people. The challenge at Tufts and other universities is that we haven’t done a good enough job bringing different voices into the university.”

The Center for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education, based in the Office of the President, will host events with a diversity of speakers, as well as perform research to expand viewpoints on higher education curricula on a variety of topics, such as immigration and gender and sexuality studies. It will also coordinate events with the Tisch College of Civic Life and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning at Teaching at Tufts.

The center has an advisory committee made up of Tufts faculty. “Democracy depends upon people with conflicting views talking with one another,” says committee member Michael Glennon, professor of constitutional and international law at The Fletcher School. “Academe is the perfect place to learn the value of a vigorous and robust marketplace of ideas.”

“One of the most important goals of higher education is to provide an environment that allows students to interrogate their own beliefs and biases and expand their horizons by exposing them to different perspectives,” says committee member Amy Kuhlik, dean of student affairs at the School of Medicine. “For those studying medicine, it’s imperative to value and respect various opinions and viewpoints. Our students will work with patients from a lot of different backgrounds, and also will team up with other professionals to provide patient care. That means listening to and respecting a lot of different voices and viewpoints.”

“I think it’s good to be in dialogue with people who have positions that are substantially different from our own,” says committee member Ken Garden, professor of religion. The center could “provide an opportunity to think about other perspectives than your own—maybe strengthening your views or seeing blind spots in views that you hold.”

He also noted that the advisory committee will act as a sounding board for the center’s leaders. “The committee and other members of the faculty could weigh in questions of what kind of viewpoints we’re considering and what kind of dialogue or encounters we should be fostering.”

The center was launched with an initial investment exceeding $5 million, provided by several foundations and individual donors across the ideological spectrum, including trustees and advisors of Tufts.

Tufts Now spoke with Hersh to learn more about his plans for the center and what he hopes it will accomplish.