Changing Campus Culture Through Civil Discourse
Campuswide Immersion (CWI) is a first-of-its-kind initiative created through the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness. Its mission is to create campus cultures where every student, not only those who choose to participate, feels empowered to engage in civil discourse, navigate information critically, and collaborate to solve shared challenges.
Grounded in a shared theory of change, CWI partners with presidents, faculty, staff and students to embed civic learning across the campus. Together, they cultivate the motivation, skills and social permission students need to navigate differences and lead with civic fluency. Through this work, colleges and universities strengthen democratic values and prepare the next generation of informed, engaged citizens.
A Campus Transformation
CWI is designed as a multi-year process that grows with each institution. In the first year, campuses establish their Action Council and baseline for evaluation. During years one and two, they experiment with new strategies, build depth across departments, and refine assessments. By year three and beyond, campuses review progress, share insights nationally, and sustain the infrastructure that supports civic learning across every corner of campus.
What Success Looks Like
Campuses are where students cultivate their interests, skills, and confidence to develop civic fluency—the ability to engage across difference, discern information, and collaborate toward solutions, in their communities and workplaces.
- Students engaging in meaningful dialogue across difference becomes the norm.
- Students confidently assess information, distinguish fact from misinformation, and form their own evidence-based opinions.
- Students actively work together to address challenges, valuing diverse perspectives in decision-making.
Benefits
- Gain hands-on support and thought partnership in developing a tailored action plan to meet your institution’s unique educational and cultural needs and opportunities.
- Receive dedicated project management services, with Citizens & Scholars catalyzing internal collaboration and serving as your accountability partner to help accelerate progress.
- Access a Citizens & Scholars Catalog of Interventions, Action Plan template, Evaluation template and other key resources to guide the design of your campuswide activities and programs.
- Leverage our deep expertise and tools, along with insights into the broader landscape of civic education and potential partners.
- Engage in collaboration and learning opportunities with peer institutions through in-person and virtual convenings with your cohort.
- Utilize a unified approach to measuring success and demonstrating impact.
- Ensure campuswide support for the initiative through a process that fosters buy-in from faculty, staff, and students.
Your Commitment
- Develop and submit a comprehensive action plan with a vision, strategy, and multiple targeted interventions to reach every undergraduate student.
- Assemble an Action Council of faculty, staff, and students to guide implementation and align evaluation with our measurement standards, appointing a lead to oversee progress and coordination.
- Agree to and participate in a shared evaluation approach to assess individual and collective impact and learnings.
- Provide resources to support the execution of the recommended programming initiatives.
See more about the Action Council.
Learn more about Campuswide Immersion by emailing immersion@collegepresidents.org
Participating Campuses
Participating campuses all have a shared goal: transform campus culture in 2–5 years by engaging every student in multiple opportunities to learn and practice civil discourse. The following institutions are currently participating in Campuswide Immersion:
American University
Augsburg University
Benedict College
Claremont McKenna College
Colorado College
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Delta College
Denison University
DePauw University
Duke University
Fairmont State University
Fordham University
Franklin & Marshall College
Howard University
Hudson County Community College (NJ)
James Madison University
La Salle University
Macalester College
Montclair State University
Mount St. Joseph University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Otterbein University
Rollins College
Rutgers University
Salem State University
Skidmore College
Towson University
University of Dayton
University of Denver
University of Montana
University of Nebraska at Omaha
University of North Texas
University of Pittsburgh
University of Richmond
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University
Weber State University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
College Presidents for Civic Preparedness is a phenomenal, brilliant, and supportive group of smart people who are highly collaborative and deeply committed to advancing the free exchange of ideas, civic participation and democracy.
Roslyn Clark Artis
President of Benedict College