Courage, Discourse, and Identity Formation: Whole-Life Discipleship in a Contentious Age

Between 2023 and 2025, two researchers in clinical and applied psychology at Northwestern University, Forest Romm and Kevin Waldman, conducted 1,452 confidential interviews with undergraduates at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. Studying student development, they wanted to answer the question: “What happens to identity formation when belief is replaced by adherence to orthodoxy?” For those who value the academic ideal of free and wide-ranging discourse, the results were disturbing. 78% of students reported that they self-censor on their beliefs on gender identity; 72% on politics; 68% on family values. More than 80% admitted that they had submitted classwork that misrepresented their views in order to align with what they perceived their professors’ views to be.

The result of such cognitive dissonance on the part of young people is sobering. As Romm and Waldman point out:

Late adolescence and early adulthood represent a narrow and non-replicable developmental window. It is during this stage that individuals begin the lifelong work of integrating personal experience with inherited values, forming the foundations of moral reasoning, internal coherence, and emotional resilience. But when belief is prescriptive, and ideological divergence is treated as social risk, the integrative process stalls. Rather than forging a durable sense of self through trial, error, and reflection, students learn to compartmentalize. Publicly, they conform; privately, they question — often in isolation. This split between outer presentation and inner conviction not only fragments identity, but arrests it.

This is why at Cambridge House, as we encourage students to explore life’s myriad complexities through the lens of faith, we emphasize the values of both courage and dialogue. Through honest dialogue we seek to “challenge the mind by engaging with others in thoughtful discussion.” By exercising courage we seek to “engage the most important matters (even those that are controversial) while never compromising the truth of God’s Word.” By doing so, we seek to encourage a full-life discipleship and help William & Mary students form the foundations of the “moral reasoning, internal coherence, and emotional resilience” that will help them develop a fully integrated identity that is rooted in Christ… and founded upon the bedrock of God’s eternal Word.