Listening to different viewpoints remains one of the best ways—perhaps one of the only ways—to bridge the racial, economic, and cultural divides currently afflicting many aspects of the world, argues Ronald Crutcher, president of the University of Richmond and author of I Had No Idea You Were Black: Navigating Race on the Road to Leadership.

In this wide-ranging interview, Crutcher shares his thoughts on campus race relations and affirmative action and on understanding the pain words can cause while still favoring free speech over limiting it.

In 2016, about 11 percent of local police officers across the country were Black. Lincoln University, a historically Black college in Missouri, wants to change those numbers with what is thought to be the first police academy housed at an HBCU.

The university’s police chief, Gary Hill, started the program after seeing how police forces statewide—including his own—struggled to recruit minority officers. He hopes to persuade other HBCUs to follow his lead and use their influence to attack the stubborn racial disparities between police departments and the communities they serve.