Join CBC Radio's Ideas for a dialogue about universities and their role in public discourse

What's the role of a university in ensuring and promoting civil discourse — and will we ever truly be happy with how they perform that role?

Professor and author Randy Boyagoda will give a lecture on the university's role in civil discourse at the University of Windsor Thursday evening, moderated by CBC Radio's Ideashost Nahlah Ayed. The lecture will be broadcast nationwide at a later date.

The lecture is hosted by the University of Windsor's Humanities Research Group (HRG) and begins its 35th season.

Boyagoda will present a lecture titled "Civil Discourse or Civil War? Ideas and realities of the contemporary university," exploring the challenges facing universities in fostering dialogue and the gap between the ideal role of universities and the realities they face.

"Do we assign seemingly unmeetable expectations to the university itself, and can there be another way to close the gap between our ideas about it and its realities?," Boyagoda said in a media release. "And could a more durable conception of civil discourse itself be a way of doing so?"

Boyagoda is the University of Toronto's advisor on civil discourse, a professor of English and undergraduate vice-dean in the faculty of arts and science. He has written seven books, including four novels.

Nahlah Ayed is the host of CBC Radio's Ideas. (CBC)

The HRG at the University of Windsor is a council of faculty members, students and community members that supports the humanities, including with a series of free monthly events.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Boyagoda's lecture begins at 6 p.m. doors open at 5:30 p.m. in the Performance Hall of the Armouries at 37 University Ave. E.