Lara Schwartz (she/her/hers) is the Founding Director of the American University Project on Civic Dialogue (formerly Project on Civil Discourse) and teaches at the American University School of Public Affairs. Schwartz draws upon her experience as a lawyer with national civil rights organizations in her courses on constitutional law, politics, communications, policy, and civic dialogue. She has served on her university’s working group on freedom of expression and was a fellow with the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. Schwartz’s book, Try to Love the Questions: From Debate to Dialogue in Classrooms and Life (Princeton University Press 2024), gives college students a framework for understanding and practicing dialogue across difference. Schwartz is the coauthor of How to College: What to Know Before You Go (And When You’re There). Schwartz holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an AB in English and American Literature from Brown University.
