Members of the Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse initiative gather for a group photo at the Community-Engaged Alliance annual retreat at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis.
Front Row (from left): Ricky Ballentine, Sarvik Chaudhary, Rodolfo Elizondo-Alcala, Cristian Cantu, and Sam Shockley. Back Row: Rowdy Farmer, visiting instructor of rhetoric and postdoctoral fellow in dialogue; Henry Young; Chayce Howell; Chris Zimmerman; Jacob Weber; Henry Chilcoat; Alejandro Cruz; and Chris Anderson, WDPD director and visiting instructor of rhetoric.
Chris Andreson, WDPD director and visiting instructor of rhetoric, addressed attendees during the morning sessions.
Anderson opened the morning with a discussion of the causes and consequences of polarization.
He discussed such topics as horserace journalism, the effects of the primary system, media fragmentation, and the lack of social capital and connection.
Anderson chats with an attendee during a break.
Anderson opened a discussion of deliberative dialogue techniques.
Part of this discussion involved using deliberation to address polarization.
The CEA attendees were an attentive group.
Anderson also discussed with the group the challenges to deliberation, including biases, reactions, and power dynamics.
The group talked through typical issues, creating space for a diverse group of stakeholders, and the dymanics of power.
Jacob Weber '25 introduces himself to some of the participants.
(from left) Henry Chilcoat '27, Alejandro Cruz '27, and Chayce Howell '27 chat before the start of the deliberation session.
Sam Shockley '25 (left) gets some advice from Rowdy Farmer, visiting instructor of rhetoric and postdoctoral fellow in dialogue, before he sits down to lead a discussion.
Cristian Cantu '26 (center) elicits a laugh from participants as discussions begin.
Serving as a note taker, Rodolfo Elizondo-Alcala '27 listens to the discussion at his table.
Howell introduces himself to the participants at his table.
Shockley intently facilitates a discussion.
Ricky Ballentine '25 listens as a participant makes a point.
Cruz was an active listener at his table.
The participants were active and thoughtfully engaged.
Cantu reacts positively to a response.
Elizondo-Alcala scribbles some notes.
Sarvik Chaudhary '25 (right) leads a discussion as Henry Young takes notes.
Chaudhary intently listens as a point is made.
Shockley's table freely shared thoughts with each other.
Here, Shockley listens as a point is made by a participant.
Chris Zimmerman '25 smiles during the discussion.
Howell listens to the participants at his table.
Ballentine reacts to a light moment at his table.
There was plenty of fruitful dialogue during the hour-long session.
WDPD members pose for a photo with Elijah Howe, executive drirector of the CEA, pictured in the back row, far right.
The task was straightforward: to facilitate a discussion for 40 campus and student life personnel from across Indiana’s colleges and universities and to teach them best practices for future dialogue sessions on their campuses.
That the teaching and facilitating would be carried out by the students who make up the Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse (WDPD) initiative felt natural as the group walked into a conference room on the lower level of the Indiana Historical Society in late September and got to work.
“I’m trying to make sure that everyone’s voice is being heard,” said Alejandro Cruz ’27. “As a facilitator, I want to make sure that no one person is dominating the conversation.”
Sam Shockley ’25 felt similarly as he battled worries of having to carry the conversation. Once the talk began, he focused on the participants and creating an environment where thoughts could be freely exchanged through a shared understanding of the central questions at hand.
These WDPD Democracy Fellows never want a table full of participants to stare back at them awaiting a prompt or question. The aim is for a constant flow of ideas and conversation. The Fellows usually work in pairs during these discussions, one facilitating the conversation and the other taking detailed notes.
“The aim is for a laid-back conversation, which is simple to facilitate when you’ve got respectful participants who are eager to contribute,” Shockley said. “I remind myself that it isn't about me, it's actually about them. That helps me to not feel so much pressure and to not take responsibility for the participants.”
Cruz tied successful facilitating to confidence.
“If you are confident in your abilities to maneuver a conversation, the conversation will carry itself out,” he said
The confidence these Fellows display at events like the Community-Engaged Alliance retreat in Indianapolis is a result of in-class experience and training.
Long before they prepare the meeting materials or the post-event summaries, the students take a class on dialogue and deliberation, where the focus is on sharpening the skills needed to be good facilitators: communication, organization, and research. Those interested in pursuing this further apply for positions in the WDPD.
“Over the course of a semester, they spend five hours a week working on their project team, developing materials, ensuring they’re ready to lead,” said Chris Anderson, WDPD director and visiting instructor of rhetoric. “That’s a lot of time invested for an undergraduate to be in this position and be ready.”
The WDPD isn’t only for rhetoric majors. The initiative draws students from across campus who have an interest and the ability to cut to the insight, engage in critical thinking, and identify what a conversation is really about, which can be a tough skill to develop. Success isn’t simply about preparation, but perception as well.
Democracy Fellow Ricky Ballentine ’25 said that the training sharpened in him the ability to know when to speak and when to listen.
“Sometimes, I have to follow up and ask, ‘What do you mean by that? Could you clarify?’” he said. “These skills help us to have a real impact in the communities and the people we talk to. We’ve hosted mental health deliberations, helped middle schoolers and high schoolers, and now we’ve helped professors address really specific and concrete issues they encounter in their everyday lives.”
As Anderson continues the work on campus started by Sarah Drury, associate professor of rhetoric, more than a decade ago, the WDPD students extend the impacts of thoughtful dialogue far beyond campus by cutting to the heart of a conversation, understanding the nuance of a problem, and being willing to engage in difficult conversations.
“Our students are able to bring a critical lens to find out what's going on in the moment,” Anderson explained. “At 
times, that's hard to catch, and that's the sort of thing we often seek. I tell a lot of our partners that our guys are just as good as any one of the deliberation teams I’ve worked with at national levels.”
Cruz has grown to enjoy the work and appreciates the learning he sees in participants, especially those fellow campus leaders.
“When participants are eager and excited to learn, it's easy to facilitate conversations because they do most of the work,” he said. “It was super cool to give them a little bit of what we’ve been trained to do and to see things click for them.”
Anderson, too, appreciates the work the WDPD students do and the ways it provides impacts. He knows there is a reciprocal value in what comes back to students, not just in confidence, but in the depth of experiences.
“Not only are they getting a larger exposure to how other places function and how that work gets done,” he said, “but the other side of this is they also feel a sense of accomplishment and prestige. Not every student gets to go talk in front of folks from campuses across Indiana. Not everybody gets the chance to engage in this way and have these really meaningful conversations.”