#  Should You Talk Politics with Your Opinionated Uncle? A Conversation with Dr. Kelly Siegel-Stechler About Civil Discourse 

 





October 26, 2026

 

 

 [ Kelly Siegel-Stechler ](/people/kelly-siegel-stechler) [ Genevieve Wallace ](/people/genevieve-wallace) 

     ![center stage](/sites/g/files/omnuum9911/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-10/Center%20Stage%20Blog%20Graphic%20HERO%20TEST.png?itok=tvpdtru_) 

 



 

Welcome back to Center Stage, a new blog from the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, where we explore what it takes to have better conversations across differences in everyday life.

We sat down with Dr. [Kelly Siegel-Stechler](https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/people/kelly-siegel-stechler), Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives, who runs the Center's [Research and Design Studio (R&DS)](https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/research-design-studio), to hear what she has learned from working in the higher education civil discourse space. She explains what civil discourse is, the promise it holds for the future of democracy, and her philosophy on engaging (or not!) with that one contrary uncle.

**When you tell people what you do for work, what do you say in an elevator? How do they respond?**

“I am a researcher studying civic education and political socialization. I currently work on research and pedagogy projects related to civil discourse in higher education.”

**What questions do they ask?**

People always ask, “What do you mean by civil discourse?”

**What** ***do*** **you mean by civil discourse?**

It’s a good question! It’s not entirely clear to anyone just what this means, and there are a lot of interpretations. In our work here at the Center, we are usually talking about a specific kind of discussion that allows for good-faith disagreement and understanding across differences in service of a pluralistic democracy. But there are many ways to approach the concept and not a lot of agreement on how to define it! We’re currently working on an edited volume asking authors to contribute their own conceptions of civil discourse, and continuing to work internally on our own definition and framework.

**What are some things that would surprise people about the state of civic education and political socialization?**

This is actually a time when civic education is thriving! When I started graduate school years ago, I had to do a lot of work to justify why civic education was worth studying or thinking about at all. But we have seen a real resurgent interest in civics education over the last decade across both K-12 and higher education. New policies, initiatives, and programs are popping up everywhere to promote civic learning and civil discourse.

**Why?**

Our current political moment has led to an urgent need to safeguard our democratic system. It’s just one piece of the puzzle, but civic education is seen as an important long-term solution to protecting and revitalizing democracy in America. We need future generations to care about and believe in our civic and democratic institutions, and we also want them to have the skills, experiences, and knowledge necessary to continue to protect and adapt our civic infrastructure into the future.

**How did we get here? In terms of polarization, etc.**

There are a lot of people who would make the argument that our lack of investment in social studies and civics education relative to STEM and reading, especially over the period from the 1980’s until the late 2010’s, has led to a lack of interest in and understanding of our democracy and made room for democratic crisis. I think there are a lot of complicated forces at work here, but that more than likely these educational trends are part of the larger story about how we got here.

**What are some encouraging signs you’ve seen in terms of dialogue?**

I have found that generally, based on working in a variety of higher education settings over the last few years, young people are eager to solve these problems, and they want to engage with and get to know one another. We have this image of Gen Z as isolated and always staring at their screens, but my experience has been that young people arrive at college excited to meet new people and have new experiences, and that opportunities to talk to and learn with peers that are different from them are very appealing. So, the potential for engagement and meaningful outcomes from this work is absolutely there.

**What do you see as the biggest threats/obstacles to this kind of civil discourse work?**

Because civil discourse work has become very trendy over the last three years, we see a lot of suspicion and skepticism that mirrors political debate about a larger problem of growing distrust in higher education among the American public. You have ongoing public discourse promoting the belief from the left that civil discourse is actually just a Trojan horse for conservative influence, and a suspicion on the right that bridge building is wishy washy liberal stuff.

**Are people right in some cases? And how is Harvard different?**

I do think this is true in some cases. There has been an influx in investment on the right that has created many of these new centers and initiatives, and there is also some danger in creating programs that make students feel good without adding any real intellectual depth or pedagogical rigor. But for the most part, there are people across the academy who have been studying and practicing this work for a long time, and who are deeply invested in getting it right. For me personally, I worked in civil discourse programming before I became an academic, it was the focus of my graduate work, and it’s been at the center of my career in higher education. I have found a wonderful community of people doing this work all across Harvard who bring their own careful analysis and implementation to civil discourse initiatives.

**What about your own life? How do you navigate disagreement with your friends and family?**

I think it’s wonderful to have deep conversations with your family and to explore disagreements, but I also think there’s a time and place for it. It’s great to talk to your opinionated uncle about politics, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to or you don’t trust how he’ll react. We can and should expect a level of good faith engagement from people when it comes to civil discourse. There’s a reason we don’t jump into these topics with people we meet on the street, and that’s because civil discourse requires a level of shared understanding and mutual care. The biggest push-back I receive from people when I talk about this work is, “well why would I engage with a neo-Nazi!?” and I think actually, you don’t have to. If we’re asking you to engage in ways that are constructive and open and thoughtful, you have a right to expect that others will do the same for you.

**We often live in echo chambers; how do we seek out these constructive disagreements?**

If you are excited about talking about the things that matter to you, it’s great to put yourself in spaces with other people who are looking for the same! Showing up for public events or community groups on topics you want to discuss is a great way to know that the other people around you are also interested in, and most likely willing to talk about, the issue at hand. Getting involved in campus life in all the wonderful spaces that already exist, whether that’s Safra-sponsored events or those hosted by our colleagues, is a great way to get out of your bubble and meet all kinds of new people.

**What are you working on right now that has you most excited?**

We have a lot going on at the R&DS right now but I’m especially excited about the edited volume I mentioned above, as well as a toolkit our team is developing to support people who want to measure civil discourse in higher education and evaluate programs designed to support it. These projects have started to speak to each other in really interesting ways as we think about both what we mean by civil discourse and why people are so focused on it right now, and how sometimes the aims we have for civil discourse initiatives and the tools we have to measure them don’t quite line up. It’s a challenge our team is excited to tackle!