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This is a question we have all heard ourselves asked at least once in our lives, perhaps not very long ago. Given the recent events, many of us will have tried to confront our friends and classmates in search of firm truth– to find common ground on divisive topics.

In his first intervention, Owolade pointed out how “we don’t speak about diversity with enough diversity.” However, dissent can take different forms. There is a healthy disagreement, which recognises in the ‘other’ a person like us, and a depersonalising disagreement, which objectifies and belittles. While the first creates space for growth and personal development, the latter often results in hateful acts. Friction creates things; from nothing, nothing is born. Perhaps, rather than political correctness, we should educate, and educate ourselves, to respect. Because if with the first we can only monologue, it is with the latter that we dialogue.Disagreement, as stated by Owolade during the event, is the inevitable “consequence of living in a free society.”

People in a minoritised community, and I would argue in any community, don’t necessarily share the same views on any given issue. There are “differences within differences”. We should not assume the views of a group of people on the basis of identity, if we want to encourage a culture of disagreeing well.

This labelling and dividing are at the root of intolerance and disrespect in any sphere of life, not only in higher education. Probably, as Owolade suggests, the only way out this vicious circle is really to understand that we have a “shared fundamental humanity.” We love using acronyms, but we usually overlook how they only give us a very small idea of the people who fall under that definition. Acronyms are simplifications and, as such, they often fail to capture the nuanced richness of who or what they represent. VPEE Student Journalist, Giovanna Cantarin, shares her reflections of attending the first UCL Disagreeing Well event: Disagreeing Well in Higher Education. "But whose side are you on?"