Prof. Shelly Eversley of Baruch College—Interim Chair of the Department of Black and Latinx Studies, Co-Director of CUNY’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded Transformational Learning in the Humanities initiative, and Provost’s Faculty Fellow—led department faculty in a discussion about “radical listening” as an approach to fostering productive dialogue about race and anti-racism. Through an interactive presentation, Prof. Eversley guided the faculty on practicing this technique and exploring its applications in the classroom and beyond. According to Prof. Eversley, listening is an exercise in trust: we go into it not knowing what the outcome will be or anticipating the response; listening is a way we can connect our humanity to another person; and to listen, we have to quiet our own expectations and believe that someone else has something to say. Prof. Eversley asked the faculty to consider how more fully listening can inspire trust and empower us in anti-racism as learners.
