A List
2/3/99

DISCUSSIONS ARE TOPIC FOR PRESENTATION AT SLU

CANTON - Carol Trosset, director of institutional research at Grinnell 
College in Iowa, will present the results of her ethnographic research 
on student attitudes about discussion in a lecture at St. Lawrence 
University on Wednesday, February 10, at 7 p.m. in Room 123 of the 
Griffiths Arts Center.
	The event, titled "Conflicting Models of Discourse: Advocacy, 
Tolerance and Other Obstacles to Discussion," is open to the public, 
free of charge.
	In her presentation, Trosset will identify common assumptions 
about what discussion should be like, and show how these assumptions can 
actually make discussions more difficult and less productive. She will 
also explain how people with particular personal styles may have trouble 
communicating with one another, and argue that attempts to structure 
discussions so that participants feel "safe" are unlikely to succeed.
	Trosset has a Ph.D. in anthropology, and has published a book on 
Welsh culture, as well as an article titled "Obstacles to Open Discussion 
and Critical Thinking" in Change magazine.

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