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>> NARRATOR: Hello, I'm Patti Loughlin,
coordinator of the American Democracy Project
at the University of Central Oklahoma.
The American Democracy Project is a national initiative,
and the goal of ADP is to cultivate and nurture informed
and engaged citizens of our democracy.
This spring we had the opportunity
to try something for the first time.
"The Deliberative Polling Initiative."
The process involves our first-year students at UCO.
The mission: get them to share, discuss,
and voice their concerns.
[ MUSIC ]
>> DR. GRELLNER: Today is Day 1.
Today we've been training our moderators.
We brought together leaders from across campus
who volunteered basically to do this.
>> NARRATOR: Dr. Janelle Grellner is an associate
professor of psychology at the University of Central Oklahoma.
She is the principle investigator
for the deliberative polling project.
>> DR. GRELLNER: You guys are the people who get engaged.
>> NARRATOR: These student leaders will serve
as moderators on Deliberation Day.
Dr. Grellner explains to them their role
and the purpose of the project.
>> DR. GRELLNER: There's another whole set of people,
another whole set of students who come to college and go
to their classes, who don't necessarily take advantage
of those opportunities.
So that's kind of what we're talking about,
here in this process, is that you, as student leaders,
are going to be helping these students
who don't normally get engaged, feel comfortable being engaged.
>> We hope they're going to bring with them their issues
that they've had so far as freshmen.
>> NARRATOR: The 20 moderators split up into two groups.
On Deliberation Day, they will help manage small
group discussions.
>> STUDENT: ...they're going to be like, "What's up?"
[ LAUGHTER ]
>> NARRATOR: To get a feel for their roles,
they conduct mock discussions, by leading,
>> STUDENT: I disagree when you say
that freshmen don't care about the economy.
>> NARRATOR: listening
and learning how to engage each other.
>> INSTRUCTOR: I think I'd like to ask what they would've liked
to have known that they didn't when they started.
>> DR. GRELLNER: Their task is to create an environment
that allows people to talk about things
that they probably don't talk about.
It's going to take these moderators to make it happen.
[ MUSIC ]
>> TIMOTHY: This is my list for the people who are going
to be attending Deliberation Day.
>> NARRATOR: Tim Deffebaugh,
along with other student moderators, have 48 hours
to contact the freshman participants.
They're sending e-mails, posting on Facebook,
>> MEREDITH: I'm trying to make it a little bit
freshmen friendly.
>> NARRATOR: texting messages and calling.
>> TIMOTHY: I'm calling to remind you
of Deliberation Day on Thursday.
It starts at 8 and it goes until 4.
If we can get 100, between 100 and 150, I will be very happy.
And so for me, I know what I say now is really going to matter
on whether they come or not.
Let's see how this goes.
My name is Tim and I will be your moderator for that day.
>> To get them here, we'll have to do a little extra pushing,
a little extra motivating, persuading.
>> TIMOTHY: I'm looking forward to seeing you
and I'm looking forward to meeting you
and I hope you have a good time.
[ MUSIC ]
>> LIZZIE: I'm Lizzie Flynn.
I am 19 years old and I grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
>> NARRATOR: Lizzie Flynn is a freshman at UCO.
>> LIZZIE: Why did I sign up for this?
I just want to go home and sleep.
I could be sleeping today.
>> NARRATOR: Her incentive to come to Deliberation Day...
earn extra credit for one of her classes.
>> INSTRUCTOR: May I have your attention please!
It's time to go inside.
>> NARRATOR: 100 randomly selected first year students
at UCO agree to participate
in the Deliberative Polling Initiative.
First, they must take a survey.
The questionnaire helps gauge what students know about UCO
and their level of engagement on campus.
>>STUDENT: Which of the following opportunities
to promote leadership are you aware of?
>>NARRATOR: The survey helps the students begin to focus
on the purpose of Deliberation Day, think and talk
about university issues that matter to them.
>> LIZZIE: I couldn't figure out how they thought we were going
to make any sense or be useful at all.
>>INSTRUCTOR: Why does this matter?
Well, how many of you believe in being an American?
People? That's why it matters.
You've got to learn the process
of what it truly means to be an American.
Because we believe in democracy, voices must be heard
and YOU have an opportunity for your voice to be heard.
So by golly, take it while you have it.
WOO!
[ APPLAUSE ]
>> LIZZIE: Everybody was given a color when they signed in
and whatever color you were divided you into a group.
>> NARRATOR: The freshmen are put in small groups of ten.
They're complete strangers united by a colored wristband.
>> LIZZIE: There we go!
>> NARRATOR: From here,
each group is assigned a private room to deliberate.
>> STUDENT: So you feel you get a better education here
because of the smaller class sizes?
>> NARRATOR: Moderators help jumpstart the discussion.
To Lizzie's surprise,
>> LIZZIE: My biggest issue is time management.
>> NARRATOR: it doesn't take long for her and others
in her group to voice their concerns.
>> STUDENT 1: Do you know what they're doing to the parking
in front of the Liberal Arts
and why it keeps expanding the construction keeps getting
bigger every day?
>> STUDENT 2: I kind of think it's annoying
when you have a small strip right there and you have
to park near the Wellness Center.
>> NARRATOR: Most of their frustrations involve services
on campus.
Things they pay for.
>> STUDENT1: I always had class when they were serving food,
so when I got out it was cereal.
I paid all that money for cereal.
>> STUDENT 2: Well, we had donuts.
>> STUDENT 1: I was very upset.
>> NARRATOR: The students must narrow their list
of concerns to one single item.
An item they'll pose to an expert panel.
They agree to propose changes to how dorm-mates are selected
and designate Lizzie as their spokesperson.
>> LIZZIE: I would almost describe myself as mousey,
like I'd rather sit there and listen to everybody else talk.
I guess I decided it was important, what I had to say.
I've never been in a position to just walk up to someone
in charge of, you know, my education, you know.
In a sense, they're in charge of the things that effect me
as a student and I got to stand face to face with them and say,
"Hey, this is a problem.
Why hasn't it been fixed, or what can we do to fix it.
Here's what we think."
Our question was about housing.
We were wondering, "Why is there not a more specific
questionnaire for roommates?"
We're wondering is there any way
that you can put a personality quiz on with it,
or make it just a more detailed thing
so that you can have a better match?
>> JOSH OVEROCKER: Actually, come May 18, we are going
to roll out a new online portal process that will allow students
to pick their own roommates.
So, you'll fill out a questionnaire,
and this questionnaire probably has closer to 30
or 35 questions consisting of "What type of food do you like?"
"What type of music do you listen to?"
>> LIZZIE: So along with that would there be a way for people
to meet the roommate ahead of time?
We thought of possibly a "Meet Your Roommate Day."
>> NARRATOR: That face-to-face interaction is a common theme
throughout the discussion with this panel made up of directors
of various campus departments.
>> STUDENT: Is there any way we can get more involved?
>> NARRATOR: After another round of small group deliberations,
questions are posed to a second panel made up of administrators,
the decision makers at UCO.
>> STUDENT: Who has the money?
Which one?
All right, none of you guys have money.
Okay, okay.
>> NARRATOR: This time around, the students are more confident.
Their questions, more direct.
>> STUDENT: Why, if UCO is a student-centered campus,
do faculty members have separate parking that is located
at the front of the building?
>> NARRATOR: From parking to personal health and safety.
>> STUDENT: We don't have video cameras in parking lots.
>> NARRATOR: The students create a sense of empowerment.
>> STUDENT: It is second-hand smoking.
It is dangerous.
>> NARRATOR: The panel learns
that students want better communication tools.
>> CHARLIE JOHNSON: I think this is a great opportunity for us,
at least for me, just to even maybe see a show of hands
of who even accesses UCONNECT
and gets information from it right now?
So you all do.
Who finds it useful for the kinds
of things you're interested in?
Very few.
>> NARRATOR: Even though today's college students are savvy
with technology, these first year students want personal
interaction to feel connected and motivated to participate.
>> STUDENT: We do not have any, barely hardly if any,
messages person-to-person at all on campus.
>> DR. RADKE: For us to do the best job possible
in helping you learn, we have to have this input,
we have to have this feedback.
Your ideas are critically important
because you are the folks for which this institution exists.
>> NARRATOR: The message from this one-day event is positive
for Lizzie and her group.
For many of them, it was their first time to speak up.
>> SHELDON: Before today, I didn't really feel
like I could pull out a lot of information that I could
from the school because I'm a very reserved person.
And now, after witnessing all of this and becoming a part of all
of this, I feel like I could do a lot more
to help out this university.
>> KENDALL: It was definitely a transformative experience
and I'm proud that we got a chance to go through it.
>> NARRATOR: For Lizzie Flynn,
>> LIZZIE: I'm a more empowered person.
>> NARRATOR: The experience has changed how she sees herself
at the University of Central Oklahoma.
>> LIZZIE: I am an important part of this university
and if I don't realize that, they won't realize it either.
So, you have to stand up and be like, "Hey, I go here.
This is important to me.
This is where I go.
This is my education that we're talking about here."
[ MUSIC ]