Diplomats in Action: How Franklin & Marshall College Built Campus Culture with Constructive Dialogue
Photo credit: Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M), driven by its mission to cultivate global diplomats skilled in empathy, dialogue, and critical thinking, partnered with the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) to embed CDI’s Perspectives program into the student experience. Under Drew Stelljes, Vice President for Student Affairs, F&M integrated Perspectives into orientation, residential life, and staff training, laying a strong foundation for meaningful dialogue and community cohesion.
The Challenge
As a globally-focused liberal arts institution, F&M sought effective tools to prepare students for navigating complex interactions in an increasingly polarized world. The college needed a structured approach to embedding skills such as empathy, constructive disagreement, and meaningful engagement—key elements aligned with its diplomat identity but challenging to consistently integrate into campus life and classroom experiences.
The Partnership
Drew Stelljes encountered CDI’s Perspectives at William & Mary and recognized its potential for F&M. The college embedded Perspectives into pre-orientation activities for ~500 first-year students, 3 residential communities, and voluntary staff training, including participation by the dining services team, thus extending the program's impact throughout the campus. Several professors from across campus actively participated in the launch steering committee, helping to integrate the program deeply into campus culture.
Outcomes
Perspectives significantly enriched campus culture.
Residential hall students regularly applied dialogue skills from Perspectives to navigate challenges and build stronger interpersonal relationships.
In fact, nearly 80% of students reported practicing what they learned in their personal or professional lives.
Initially skeptical faculty found the program invaluable for facilitating transformative classroom discussions, creating environments conducive to bravery, empathy, and respect.
The Diplomat Program at F&M
F&M’s emphasis on global diplomacy involves preparing students with the essential skills to act as thoughtful, engaged global citizens. By incorporating Perspectives into its curriculum and campus life, the college deepened its diplomat program, enabling students and staff to develop and practice skills of empathy, respectful dialogue, and critical thinking essential for addressing global challenges. This integrated approach made dialogue and diplomacy core features of the F&M student experience.
Perspectives has proven itself far more than an educational tool; it is now integral to achieving our core mission.
Implementation Pathways
By embedding Perspectives across pre-orientation, residential communities, and staff interactions, Franklin & Marshall is creating interconnected pathways that will collectively influence campus culture. This multi-layered approach ensures dialogue and diplomacy become integrated norms, continually enhancing relationships and engagement campus-wide.
Pre-Orientation Integration
Franklin & Marshall embedded Perspectives into pre-orientation modules, ensuring first-year students arrived on campus already equipped with essential dialogue and diplomacy skills to constructively navigate differences.
Residential Housing & Student Leaders
Within the college’s residential house communities, which are led by faculty mentors (house Dons) and upper-class peer leaders, Perspectives was integrated into weekly discussions and community activities. A highlight was the introduction of elephant sculptures symbolizing core program concepts, which sparked playful interactions and strengthened camaraderie among the houses.
Staff Engagement
Dining services staff, encouraged by their director, participated enthusiastically in Perspectives training, rapidly adopting a shared language. This training improved everyday conversations and deepened meaningful connections with students throughout campus life.
Ripple Effects
Campus Culture Shift
Leadership observed a broader campus shift toward patience, humor, and humility, enhancing the authenticity and productivity of interpersonal dialogues.
Community Building
Staff participation, particularly by dining services, exemplified community-wide engagement, which resulted in people being friendlier with each other and enjoying each other’s company more.
New Traditions
Within the residential houses the "Elephant and Rider" metaphor from CDI's curriculum inspired a playful tradition. Each of the five houses was gifted a large, three-dimensional elephant sculpture. What started as a symbolic gesture evolved into a lively, friendly competition, as houses began “borrowing” each other's elephants.
Greater Student Engagement
A steering committee member came to view Perspectives as essential for fostering courageous and meaningful classroom discussions, empowering students to speak openly, listen actively, and approach dialogue with genuine curiosity and confidence.
Key Principles and Tools from CDI
F&M leveraged CDI’s science-backed curriculum emphasizing:
The "Elephant and Rider" metaphor, connecting emotional reactions with logical thinking as a shared cultural touchstone.
Empathy, mutual respect, and humility explicitly fostered in residential life and faculty-staff interactions.
Structured, evidence-based dialogue techniques, reducing vulnerability and deepening connections across campus.
Concrete skills building to move beyond rhetoric and create meaning through conversation.
Looking Forward
Building upon this success, F&M is expanding dialogue-focused programming with "F&M Dialogues," targeting sophomores and juniors for advanced engagement through workshops and discussions. The ongoing goal is embedding constructive dialogue permanently into campus culture, preparing students to extend these diplomatic skills beyond their college years.
(Photo credit: Franklin & Marshall College.)
