The DeVoe L. Moore Center (DMC) at the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy is launching an initiative to increase civil discourse and decrease polarization across campus. The DMC is a public policy research institute, or “think tank,” involved in examining market-oriented solutions to pressing social problems. The initiative is led by the DMC’s Business Manager, Jalen Shojgreen, who joined the DMC last Fall.
On November 20, the DMC partnered with the Political Discourse Club (PDC) at FSU for a screening of the documentary UNDIVIDE US and a post-documentary discussion led by PDC President Jeremy Pollack and DMC Director Sam Staley, Ph.D. The DMC also hosted an all-day training on conducting a Pluralist Lab with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
Both events focused on decreasing partisan divides in the country through the use of Pluralist Labs as a tool. Pluralist Labs employ Triadic Illumination to foster discourse. Triadic Illumination starts with the use of different-colored paddles held up by participants to identify their opinions on a given topic. Then, the moderator guides the discussion and encourages participants to consider the other side’s view by asking participants why they think the other side holds a certain opinion.
The documentary tells the origins of the Pluralist Lab, or Triadic Illumination, program at the Mercatus Center. Forty-seven students, faculty, and staff attended the DMC-PDC documentary screening, and 15 people were trained in Triadic Illumination techniques.
In the Spring of 2024, the DMC began its work on pluralism by hosting a Pluralist Lab with participants and moderators from the DMC network. Then, in the Fall 2024 semester, the DMC partnered with the Political Discourse Club to host a screening of the documentary UNDIVIDE US in the HCB building on FSU’s campus.
The documentary shows the beginning stages of development and implementation of the Triadic Illumination method of civil discourse, and both the creators and the participants discuss the successes and failures of the method in the documentary.
The Pluralist Lab program aims to stimulate understanding between different viewpoints, provide tools for constructive conversation, and push for social change. The documentary highlights the individuals and their experience in the sessions, and they traveled to several different cities and had a wide variety of participants with varying political and social alignments. A few of the participants decided to do follow-ups with each other, continuing some of their conversations, or even starting new ones.
The focus of the documentary is how the media falsely shows that the country is becoming increasingly more divided and show the effect of this on the public’s perception. The Pluralism Lab is intended to demonstrate that most Americans are moderate, not devout to one side or the other on the U.S. political spectrum.
The documentary also covers the Mercatus Center’s hope for the future with the format, as well as their desire to continue to spread it across the country, especially college campuses. Overall, the documentary explains Triadic Illumination and shows some of it in action, illustrating the experience and impact on the participants.
A couple days after the screening, the Mercatus Center and the DMC worked together to bring down representatives to train individuals from the DMC to moderate, or lead, a Triadic Illumination session.
The Triadic Illumination training was held all day and included trainees participating in a Pluralist Lab, learning the appropriate mindset for moderating one, and having two chances to moderate discussions with provided materials and personalized feedback. This training provided great experience and feedback for each trainee and equipped them with the knowledge necessary to lead their own Pluralist Labs in the future.
The DMC aims to host a Pluralist Lab this Spring 2025. With the training last Fall, DMC members will be able to host and moderate a Triadic Illumination discussion here on FSU’s campus. Stay tuned to the DMC’s Instagram (@dmcfsu) for more information!
To learn more about the Pluralist Lab, visit the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s website: https://www.mercatus.org/tags/pluralist-lab.
To learn more about the DeVoe L. Moore Center, visit the DMC’s website: https://cosspp.fsu.edu/dmc/.
To contact the Political Discourse club at FSU, visit their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fsu_pdc/.