A class being offered at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is the first in the world to partner with the Human Library, a nonprofit headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, working to stamp out hate and increase understanding across communities.
The Empathy Project course (COMM 315) is being offered this fall and is led by Kathy Castle, professor of practice in the Department of Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It's not a surprise, but the research bears out that empathy is, in fact, on the decline. There is an all-time high of loneliness,” Castle said. “There's an awful lot of barriers to connection today, and we're seeing an awful lot of problems associated with that. There is sort of an infrastructure of loneliness and disconnection that’s difficult to navigate.
“This class is a response to the moment. I see this as an opportunity for people to recognize the value of empathy inherent in and across all walks of life, all career fields, all professional goals, whatever you're seeking to do. You have a challenge of cultivating empathy and connection within this infrastructure of loneliness and disconnection. We have a challenge in cultivating that and maintaining it and encouraging it in other people.”
The goal of the course is to teach students how to cultivate their empathy and connections with others. Research suggests that the capacity for empathy in individuals is on a spectrum and can be cultivated to a certain degree through experiences, dialogues and mindfulness. Castle is helping her students cultivate and communicate empathy using research, communication theories, small group discussions, readings and the new virtual book readings now offered by the Human Library.
The Human Library provides access to people who volunteer as “books” and are willing to answer questions about a part of their identity for “readers.” The conversations between the book and reader are meant to foster deeper understanding. Every book, or individual, represents a group in society that is often subjected to prejudice, stigmatization or discrimination because of their lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin and more. Students in Castle’s class were afforded up to five “checkouts,” or virtual meetings with a book.
Castle became aware of the Human Library when she learned from a Nebraska Wesleyan colleague about an in-person event she had hosted on campus. Following that conversation, Castle reached out to the organization to learn more. They provided Castle with access to some virtual readings, and she decided to try it out.
“I spoke with someone overcoming addiction and someone who had survived a cult,” Castle said. “It was really powerful for me, and I found myself thinking about those interactions a lot.
“When I started to conceptualize this class, I thought, this is the perfect fit. It exemplifies established theories around reducing bias and prejudice and fits right in with our curriculum in Communication Studies aimed at promoting and teaching students how to engage in healthy dialogues across difference — a critical skill for all college graduates to develop.”
The founder of the Human Library, Ronni Abergel, was excited about the possibility of students using books for class. He worked with Castle to allow students to access the Human Library’s virtual platform, which is still being built out and provides books from more than 80 countries.
Halfway through the semester, students say they have had life-changing and sometimes challenging encounters in class and in the virtual readings.
“I might not understand what they've been through, but I can still relate to maybe an experience they've had, or a feeling that they've had, through engaging with their world,” said Kayla Foster, a senior in the course. “So, I think that has been very valuable.”
During a recent class in which students worked in small groups, Castle led a discussion about preparing for a reading. Students spoke about the self-reflection they had undertaken prior to their readings — thinking about their own implicit biases, their common humanity — and their thinking about the strategies Castle and the readings had provided.
This is by design, Castle said.
“We move through what it is to cultivate empathy, how to communicate in a more empathetic way, how to extend our sense of who we are and our common humanity,” she said. “What are the strategies — evidence-based strategies — that help us to do that?”
Castle stresses throughout the class that she wants students to practice both compassion for others and compassion for themselves.
“The theme of this class is really balancing self and other in our interactions,” she said. “When we're overly focused on the self, that becomes problematic. If we're overly focused on the other, then we can become fatigued. It's a matter of really striking that balance, and that's what I'm seeing is the theme come through — finding that balance.”
Foster, who is majoring in both communication studies and women’s and gender studies, took the course to explore her own empathy, discovering it was in her top five Clifton Strengths while in college. She wanted to stretch that strength.
“The nature of the world that we live in, we're very disconnected from each other through so many things,” she said. “It could be from the pandemic, or polarization, or just a deep misunderstanding of people. Learning about empathy, understanding how to approach those conversations, has been huge for me.”
The class is being offered as a special topics class, but Castle will make it a regular offering beginning in spring 2025. She hopes students from across campus will find value in it.
“We currently have students from pre-health, looking at it in that context, people who are interested in becoming lawyers, and thinking about what they might struggle to empathize with while representing a client, future therapists,” Castle said. “They have an opportunity to really challenge themselves and come away from the class with the kinds of strategies will help to continue to cultivate empathy for others with vastly different experiences and worldviews, even as they recognize the importance of and value in their own experiences and worldviews.”
