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- Helping a Women's College Go Co-Ed
Helping a Women's College Go Co-Ed
Randolph-Macon Woman's College began admitting male students in 2007 and changed its name to Randolph College. As a result, divides deepened, and tension clouded the once peaceful Virginia campus.
Some seniors were opposed to graduating from a coed school and resented male first-year students. Faculty and trustees were deeply divided over the college's finances.
Investing Skills
Essential Partners was invited to campus to help recover a lost sense of community.
Over a period of fifteen months, 200 faculty, staff, and students came together in small groups to share their hopes, expectations, and frustrations about the College’s decision to go coed, the impact on the College’s finances, and community morale.
Nineteen faculty and staff, as well as fourteen students were then trained to conduct constructive conversations among campus stakeholders. As always, EP invested the community with the skills needed to lead continuing dialogues across this divisive issue.
Following the training, staff and faculty members continued to devise venues for inclusive participation by everyone on campus. They have worked to rebuild the trust and good faith that had been lost during a difficult and divisive change to the college's identity.
Related Impact Stories
Testimonials
Undergraduate StudentAs a pharmacy major, I do not receive much training on how to handle difficult or controversial conversations. I think that this training will help me not only in my duties as a resident assistant, but in discussing medications and therapies with future patients when the conversation becomes difficult.
Northeastern University, MA
Program ParticipantI did not anticipate having as many concrete takeaways as I do. I feel there is an immense practical application.
Belle AbayaWhat is special about Essential Partners' approach is that it promotes authenticity, reduces defensiveness, increases curiosity, and boosts connectedness.
The Conflict Resolution Group Foundation, Philippines
Undergraduate StudentIt’s nice to talk about things that we encounter all the time but rarely get talked about. This made me hopeful that there are people who are willing to talk about serious issues.
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Megan DeFranzaThere is a need not only for safe space within our churches but for our church leaders who often feel alone, or who may feel their job could be at risk if they engage in controversial conversations. How are they to make safe spaces in their own congregations for healthy dialogue if they rarely experience safe space to do the same?
Gordon College, Massachusetts
Undergraduate StudentThe professor was able to engage every student. She encouraged them to present new ideas. Dialogue helped create an environment that really deepened the understanding of the material.
Southern Methodist University, Texas
Undergraduate StudentI learned to expect the best of my classmates, even when we don’t agree. I can’t write off their opinions anymore, despite our disagreements.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
Lauren Cobb, Task Force MemberI now lead teams with a different language, using different processes, and with a different awareness of team dynamics. [I’ve seen] relationships grow and deepen, unity and commitment remain high, and mutual respect established and fostered.
Glendale Presbyterian Church, California
Program ParticipantI did not anticipate having as many concrete takeaways as I do. I feel there is an immense practical application.
Undergraduate StudentEvery opinion was accepted. No one felt judged or uncomfortable talking to one another. These have been, by far, the best classroom discussions I have ever had.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
James Rucker, Faculty MemberIt is really different than it was before. The Essential Partners process has given me the power to be heard and be seen. It’s unreal.
Randolph College (VA)
Luke Zubrod, Director of Strategic InitiativesWhen there's an element of conflict, oftentimes we gravitate toward debate as a way of contending toward some decision or outcome. Dialogue is a much different proposition. The emphasis of dialogue is in understanding the other person's perspective, making sure they have the opportunity to feel heard.
Chatham Financial, Pennsylvania
Teresa Grettano, Associate Professor and Director of the First-Year Writing program"Facilitated dialogue creates a classroom atmosphere in which exploring uncomfortable issues and asking difficult questions is an expected part of the process, and it allows students space to engage each other without fear of the vitriol common in our public discourse."
University of Scranton (PA)
Misty Stoll, School Board TrusteeI ran for my local school board in 2018 and was elected. I use the skills in our meetings, whether I’m chairing the meeting or not. This makes the meetings much more productive. We don’t go over the same topics over and over again.
Wyoming
Undergraduate StudentWe tackled really difficult topics and this helped everyone know each other and understand each person's individual perspective. Over the course of the semester, I became much more comfortable engaging with my classmates—specifically because of the peer dialogue groups.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
Romeo McCauley, Project PartnerI learned that I can build relationships, that I can be connected to anybody who I want to be connected to, no matter how difficult it is
Liberia
Anne Hopkins Gross, Dean of StudentsThe Essential Partners workshop was a way of building up our ability to talk about more difficult issues, such as poverty and GLBTQ safe spaces. It was really the foundational entrée into those more challenging issues of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender. People walked away feeling much more confident about having difficult conversations.
Southern Vermont College, VT
Dr. Jill DeTemple, Religious Studies FacultyAfter using this approach in my classroom, I am now more willing, and more able, to engage students in meaningful conversations about potentially contentious issues. Whereas I used to nod toward things like homosexuality in religious life, interfaith marriage, or the role of government in reproduction, now I build these conversations into the class so students can learn to speak about their experiences, and so they learn to listen and learn from those with whom they might disagree.
Southern Methodist University, Texas
Undergraduate StudentI learned a lot about myself from others’ perspectives—it was comforting to hear similar values and ideas expressed, yet really eye-opening and intriguing to hear very different philosophies.
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Program ParticipantBefore, I thought all dialogue that does not culminate in solution was considered equivalent to failure. Now I see that dialogue is a stage complete in itself.
Burundi
Nicki Glasser, Policy CoordinatorWhat surprised me was how much you could transform a relationship during a three-hour conversation.
Transformation Center, Massachusetts
Beth MendozaDialogue gets more results. It makes decision-making easier. It makes creating participation easier … our greatest organizational impact has been more contributions as well as more effective and efficient meetings.
Moraine Park Technical College, Wisconsin
Bob Bordone, Expert and AuthorEssential Partners does the best work in the field of dialogue and communication.
Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program, Co-Founder
Program ParticipantI felt an amazing sense of accomplishment when the Essential Partners training ended; that I'd done something important for my community and something important for me.
Massachusetts
Bill Scott, Project DirectorThere was a remarkable change in the way we were able to communicate with one another following the facilitated conversations.
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
Undergraduate StudentDialogue challenged us to think more deeply about the class topics. Talking about our own thoughts and experiences in relation to the topic also challenged us to think about our own views and articulate them more clearly.
Gordon College, Massachusetts
Katie Shear, Civic Engagement CoordinatorUsing what we learned from Essential Partners, staff were able to model effective and respectful communication for students. A next step would be for us to help students employ some of these methods themselves. The staff not only gained skills in communication but also left feeling supported by each other in the work that we do.
Southern Vermont College, VT
Undergraduate StudentI have learned how to not be offended and to be better prepared to receive other people's communication. You don't have to agree, but you can respect the other person.
Randolph College (VA)
Janet Lansberry, Weissman Center Assistant DirectorThis was probably the most profound workshop that we ever brought to campus. It offered a really unique foundation in personal insight.
Mount Holyoke College, MA
Nicki Glasser, Policy CoordinatorWhat surprised me was how much you could transform a relationship during a three-hour conversation.
Transformation Center, Massachusetts
Karen Ramirez, Director of the CU Engage ProgramWe get more requests [for campus dialogue] than we could ever respond to.… I’m proud that our work on campus is actually kind of unusual, because it doesn’t support just one population. It supports everyone—students, staff, faculty, graduate students. I don’t know if there are other University of Colorado projects going on that hit all of our campus population.
University of Colorado, Boulder
Lauren Barthold, Philosophy FacultyI’ve learned that it is not enough to announce my commitment to dialogue and expect students to know what I mean; I need concrete exercises to allow students to learn how to do it.
Endicott College, Massachusetts
Undergraduate StudentThe most significant thing for me was learning how to ask for more information rather than trying to persuade a person to think differently. I also learned helpful dialogue tips, which are more effective during difficult conversations. If I encounter a difficult dialogue with any of my residents, I plan on using the techniques I learned in this workshop to facilitate those talks.
Northeastern University, MA
Beth MendozaDialogue gets more results. It makes decision-making easier. It makes creating participation easier … our greatest organizational impact has been more contributions as well as more effective and efficient meetings.
Moraine Park Technical College, Wisconsin
Undergraduate StudentI started to trust everyone in the class—I felt heard and I felt that people wanted to listen. As a result, I wasn’t afraid to let my past come out and let people learn from what I have been through.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
Program ParticipantI felt an amazing sense of accomplishment when the Essential Partners training ended; that I'd done something important for my community and something important for me.
Massachusetts
Etionette Nshirmirimana, Burundian Master TrainerI realized that by using the “dialogue” approach, people could talk of what is deep in their heart, especially things that have harmed them.
Burundi
Undergraduate StudentDuring one dialogue, as we were reading The Joy Luck Club, we were asked to discuss our relationship to America. There were students who grew up in the United States and also those who hadn’t—and I was surprised to hear that everyone had equally complex relationships with the topic.
I appreciated being able to hear and express the full depth of our own context before delving into a discussion about first-generation immigrants.
Gordon College, Massachusetts
Cricket Fuller, The Christian Science MonitorThis wasn’t a policy debate [about guns]. Instead, two people whose backgrounds and views diverged in almost every way possible shared a moment of honesty that struck at the heart of the matter.
Boston, Massachusetts
Undergraduate StudentAt the beginning of the semester, there was not much participation in class. But by the end, almost everyone had something constructive to add every day.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
Program ParticipantThe highlight for me was the interconnectedness of the participants’ views, mutual respect, and range of experiences within the group
Montana
Bob Bordone, Expert and AuthorEssential Partners does the best work in the field of dialogue and communication.
Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program, Co-Founder
Elizabeth Zehl, Undergraduate StudentEssential Partners' process gives people the space to be intellectually curious and to engage with others on important issues in a way that also benefits their own understanding of what they believe.
Randolph College (VA)
Megan DeFranzaHere safe space was created for pastors and church leaders to wrestle with topics like evolution which are all too often “off limits” or believed to be antagonistic to the faith.
Gordon College, Massachusetts
Program ParticipantThis is the best adult learning experience I have had in the past five years. I wanted to learn new skills—I did!
Program ParticipantThis is the best adult learning experience I have had in the past five years. I wanted to learn new skills—I did!
Undergraduate StudentI feel more comfortable participating in class and less defensive when other students disagree. And because I learned more from my fellow students about their views, I now feel less competitive with them than in other classes.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
Program ParticipantI am now open to new views and can moderate my impulse to debate or persuade others of different views
Montana
Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen, and Bruce PattonWe owe a debt of gratitude to Laura Chasin and her collaborators at Essential Partners… From them, we have learned about the transformative power of telling one’s story and speaking to the heart of the matter.
Difficult Conversations
Kim Davidson, OmbudsI’ve gained not only confidence but tools. The Essential Partners training was worth every penny.
Oberlin College, Ohio
Kim Davidson, OmbudsI’ve gained not only confidence but tools. The Essential Partners training was worth every penny.
Oberlin College, Ohio
Undergraduate StudentI notice that my classmates take much more care when speaking about people who practice other religions. They make fewer assumptions, and they’re more careful with their words to make sure to avoid unintentional connotations.
Bridgewater College, Virginia