At the University of Colorado, our responsibility to our students goes beyond ensuring that they leave us with a degree in hand. We also play a pivotal role in their growth and development as engaged members of their communities. While we certainly educate our students and help train them in their chosen fields, we also strive to support their learning around the rights and responsibilities of free speech and the need our democracy has for each of us to engage in informed and civil debate. 

To do this, we work to cultivate fundamental yet critical skills in our students and our campus communities that transcend professions, politics and pathways. They are vital to success (however you define it) and a healthy society. And yet, too little value seems to be placed on these skills in our current climate, and too few of us are practicing them consistently in our daily lives.

Critical thinking, active listening, clear communication and problem solving. 

Helping our students develop and hone these “soft” skills (which are anything but soft) are among our often unspoken, but critical responsibilities as a university. Given their importance to virtually all aspects of life, these skills underpin how we teach, conduct research, create art, write papers, use AI and serve our communities.  

These skills are particularly vital when it comes to engaging with each other and there are countless examples of how we work to cultivate them in this capacity across our campus communities. Just as CU is an incubator of ideas and innovation across disciplines, we are also an incubator of civil dialogue and debate. This means that we do not shield students – or any of our community members – from ideas or speech they dislike or disagree with. Sharpening these skills means being exposed to opinions and perspectives with which we disagree, sometimes deeply and passionately. As we work to ensure our campuses and our community members feel free to express their views and opinions, we also work to ensure our campuses are safe places where everyone can feel a sense of belonging and our educational mission is not disrupted. Striking this balance is tricky when one person’s words make another person feel unwelcome. So, we create rules and policies and agree to follow them. We hold ourselves and each other accountable. 

At CU Denver, our top-ranked School of Public Affairs holds its signature “First Friday” conversations that cover a wide range of pressing issues and feature panelists representing diverse viewpoints. An upcoming First Friday on Nov. 7 will focus on “Democracy & Democratic Resilience.” In June, the UCCS Center for the Study of Government and the Individual hosted the Colorado Conference on Civic Discourse, which focused on promoting healthy, informed debate with speakers that included the renowned scholars and “ideological odd couple” Robert George and Cornel West. Last month, CU Boulder was recognized as a national leader in free expression, earning the #5 spot in the 2026 College Free Speech Rankings by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression for its strong policies and institutional neutrality. 

Civil dialogue and debate are at the heart of our democracy, yet our current climate sometimes leans toward incivility. Social media certainly rewards this type of behavior: Numerous studies show that the more obnoxious and polarizing the social post, the more likely it is to be shared and to attract attention. People act out and are rewarded.

At CU, we are not, will not and cannot be a place where such behavior is rewarded. However, we will never be a place where we always agree with one another – and that's a good thing. But when we don't see eye to eye, we must disagree respectfully and be open to hearing opposing views. When we actively practice thinking through and formulating our own opinions and ideas, really listening to someone else’s perspective, clearly communicating our own reasoning and problem solving, we find a better path to understanding and even compromise.

In a world of nuance, where so much is anything but clear-cut, this is how we learn, how we find common ground and how we move forward together. At CU, we consider this approach a cornerstone of our university, and we work to ensure that our students carry it forth with them out into the world.