Changing the Conversation

In an increasingly polarized world, it can be challenging to engage with people who hold opposing viewpoints. A gift from Northwestern Trustee Jennifer Leischner Litowitz ’91 and Alec Litowitz in support of the Center for Enlightened Disagreement will accelerate the University’s impact on promoting constructive dialogue. In recognition of the Litowitzes’ generosity, the University has renamed the center in their honor. 

The Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement will make enlightened disagreement a fully integrated part of student life, with the potential to reach thousands of Northwestern students across schools and majors. It will provide students, community members and organizations with the analytical tools and skills to navigate opposing viewpoints and harness the power of difference.  

“Exchanging conflicting opinions freely and openly can fuel innovation and change, force us to think critically, and push us to expand our worldview,” Jennifer Litowitz says. “Alec and I are thrilled that Northwestern is taking the lead in developing evidence-backed methods to teach students how to build understanding that will not only benefit them while at Northwestern but even more so when they transition into the broader world.”  

Originally launched as part of the Kellogg School of Management, the Litowitz Center is based on four interconnected pillars: research, curriculum, outreach and conversation. The center is led by Kellogg faculty members Nour Kteily and Eli Finkel ’97. Kteily is the Kellogg Chair in Enlightened Disagreement, and Finkel is also a professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Both have extensive experience working to better understand polarization, misperceptions among opposing groups and potential methods to remedy these challenges.  

The Litowitz Center will infuse research principles of logical thinking and enlightened disagreement into the learning goals of the Weinberg College Seminar, a required course taken annually by more than 1,000 first-year students. Through a partnership with the Division of Student Affairs, the Litowitz Center also will offer an innovative cocurricular program for students living on campus. A pilot, which began in fall 2025, includes sessions on cultivating open-mindedness, identifying one’s own cognitive biases and working collaboratively with others who have different views. 

“If we truly want to have meaningful dialogue and navigate across difference, we need to start with a better understanding of ourselves before we can try to understand others,” Alec Litowitz says. “The intent of the center is to teach this type of critical thinking to create a foundation of understanding for constructive discussion and debate. The result may not be agreement but something equally valuable: enlightened disagreement.” 

Read more about the Center for Enlightened Disagreement in our 2025 feature “Enlightened Disagreement.”