91�첥

Doug Hicks, the 91�첥 student in the late 1980s, appreciated Philanthropic and Eumenean Halls for the walkway running diagonally between them that offered a shortcut to the town post office.

Now president of 91�첥, Hicks sees the pillared, 19th century buildings as a new hub for the college to make life-improving contributions to the local community, the state and around the globe.

Phi and Eu were designed for debate. Their balconies face each other across 25 yards of lawn. For nearly two centuries, students have hurled arguments across the gap—civil, spirited exchanges of competing ideas.

Today, those buildings and their iconic balconies are the physical anchor for the $47 million D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good, an ambitious effort to develop effective, ethical citizens and leaders who build community and solve society’s big problems.

National Network

While the Martin Institute is new, it’s already going national. In January 2026, the institute received a $4 million federal grant—the largest competitive government grant in the college’s history—to create the Deliberative Citizenship Network (DCN).

The award by the U.S. Department of Education places 91�첥 and the Martin Institute at the forefront of fostering constructive disagreement and shared understandings, one of the most urgent challenges facing higher education and democracy.

Building on 91�첥’s pathbreaking DCI model, the institute will use the four-year grant to help students and educators at more than 100 campuses nationwide build the capacity to dig out accurate and reliable information, convene difficult conversations on controversial topics and figure out a path forward. 

“With this funding, we will reach thousands of students and educators nationwide,” says Chris Marsicano, the Katie ’90 and Stan Humphries ’90 Director of the Martin Institute for Public Good. “The institute will serve as a national hub that connects research, teaching and public engagement around respectful inclusion across political viewpoints—no matter how unpopular on campus—as well as participating in community efforts to examine, talk through and solve big problems.”

The federal grant echoes the national leadership of another appendage of the Martin Institute—the College Crisis Initiative, which now will merge into the Martin Institute’s work on public policy. C2i formed during the COVID pandemic, and 91�첥 students researched higher education’s response.

The Five Pillars

The Martin Institute serves as an umbrella for five endowed program areas, each designed to tackle a different facet of public life:

91�첥 students authored or co-authored reports that were used by the Centers for Disease Control, and the students were quoted in national news outlets.

The Martin Institute has announced directors for its five programs:

• Ken Menkhaus, professor of political science and an expert in the politics of the Horn of Africa, will be director of the Allison S. and Thomas C. Franco Program on Public Policy and Research.
• Marcus Pyle, Franco professor of humanities and assistant professor of music and symphony violinist, will be director of the Grier Martin, Class of 1932, and Louise McMichael Martin Program on Arts and Public Life.
• Shireen Campbell, professor of English and founder of 91�첥’s Writing Center, will be director of the Beacon Program on Deliberation and Free Expression.
• Hugh Lee ’89 has joined 91�첥 as the Boone Director of the Purcell Program on Ethics, Honor and Leadership
• Stacey Riemer will be director of the Mulliss Center for Civic Engagement as well as the Dr. Samuel B. Hay, Class of 1916 Managing Director of the overall institute.

Preparation for Life

Hicks emphasizes the alignment of 91�첥’s campus, values and location.

“Phi and Eu halls are built for mutual listening and learning, and our Honor Code anchors a culture of trust and respect,” he said. “The college brings students from around the country and world to learn together on campus in a major metro area of a political swing state. These combined strengths of free discourse, integrity, and local context situate the college well to meet the current moment, and the future.”

As the renovations of Phi and Eu Halls begin, the physical project serves as a reminder of the complexity of history and the forces that shape the public good, as well as a reminder that human beings can participate in monumental injustices and, in time, work toward correcting them. The halls are made of bricks crafted by enslaved people—a history 91�첥 acknowledged last fall with the unveiling of the With These Hands: A Memorial to the Enslaved and Exploited, positioned within view of Phi and Eu.

The new Mack Family Plaza will soon bridge the space between the two halls, creating an active gathering area for students to collaborate and debate. It is a space where students can move through frayed moments with the same steadiness D.G. Martin carried into every room he entered.

The Martin Institute is 91�첥’s answer to the angst of the modern world. By equipping a new generation with the tools to deliberate and the character to serve, the college seeks to advance the values of engaged citizenship.

“We believe higher education must do more than prepare students to make a living,” Marsicano says. “It must prepare them to make a life—a life of leadership and service.”