Khalilah Brown-Dean Talks Public Engagement at Alumni Event
Public life was the topic of conversation at a recent gathering of alumni, faculty, and staff in Washington, DC for the 45th Annual Philip B. Brown ’44 Memorial Lecture. The term, which often refers to civic engagement activities, has long been associated with Wesleyan, where making a difference on and off campus is part of the ethos.
In introducing the lecture speaker—Executive Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life Khalilah Brown-Dean—Board of Trustees member Andrew Fairbanks ’90 described this enduring quality of the University. “We attract and we cultivate and we launch people who are really committed to making the world a better place,” said Fairbanks. “The students we graduate believe in civic engagement. They embrace the differences in our world and…fight for the causes they believe in.”
That spirit is fostered by the Allbritton Center and by Brown-Dean, who is also the Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement. In her talk, entitled "This is Wesleyan: Equipping, Engaging, and Elevating Public Life,” Brown-Dean outlined the vision and work of the Allbritton Center under her leadership and why promoting public life is so important now.
At the beginning of her lecture, Brown-Dean noted how last month marked the five-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It's been five years and many of us relied on social distancing to keep us safe,” she said. “And the reality is that five years later, many of us need to relearn how to talk to other people once again. We have to relearn how to disagree without fear, and listen without defense.”
She also pointed out that it’s been five years since the murder of George Floyd and the international movement for justice that followed. “All of that is a reminder, as Coretta Scott King said, that freedom is never really won. You earn it and you win it with every generation,” she said.
Teaching and learning how to “earn” freedom is one of the goals of the programming at Allbritton. “We have to affirm the leadership that is within us,” said Brown-Dean. “And so that means that I am consumed with thinking about how we prepare our students and our campuses and our communities to be fully aware of [their] power and to exercise it, even when we disagree.”
At Allbritton, Brown-Dean said she and her team focus on public engagement that satisfies three principles. These include being intentional about commitments to partners and the approach to the work; being sustainable; and being relational—or emphasizing the mutual benefits or opportunities in civic engagement. “It means that when we work with communities…we encourage students and partners to practice cultural humility,” she said.
Practically, Wesleyan students get a chance to practice that type of robust and respectful engagement in Allbritton-hosted events, such as a recent career expo for high school students from Middletown and Middlesex counties, sponsored by the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships at Allbritton. Public engagement is also exemplified by the New Venture Awards, or seed grants bestowed on student entrepreneurs who develop original projects, organizations, or companies that have an impact in the world.
In the classroom, Allbritton encourages public engagement through two minors—one in Civic Engagement and another in Human Rights Advocacy. The Center also offers courses in civil disagreement and dialogue for first-year students, as well as residential advisors, to help students learn how to have difficult conversations constructively.
To support students’ interests in politics, Allbritton provides a year-round Political Engagement Fund, with small grants for students who want to work on campaigns or for nonprofits. A related initiative is Diploma to Ballot, which promotes civic engagement and leadership by encouraging high school students, as well as Wesleyan students, to register to vote. Last fall, the initiative registered 60% of graduating seniors from Middletown High School, said Brown-Dean, who is working to expand the effort statewide.
The focus on voter registration and elections led to the first HBCU Democracy Day in November, which took Wesleyan students to an historically black college, North Carolina A&T, to engage with and learn from peers from across the country. Wesleyan students not only had the opportunity to travel to Greensboro, but to hear the stories of civil rights pioneers.
Looking ahead, Allbritton has further ideas planned, including civic engagement that connects students with alumni. “We are visioning a Civic Impact Lab to meld that classroom learning with tackling real-world problems, to create opportunities for our current students to build with alumni, to build with various leaders and to think about the purpose that they share together,” Brown-Dean said. Additionally, a Civic Fellowship for incoming students would allow students to travel together and participate in a civic pitch competition.
In the end, Allbritton’s work is about making the notion of “public life” real for students. “Learning is only half the equation,” said Brown-Dean, quoting Minnah Minnah Sheikh ‘25, who attended HBCU Democracy Day. “Applying that knowledge to drive change is what truly matters.”
The Philip B. Brown '44 Memorial Lecture is Wesleyan's signature annual event in Washington DC in honor of Philip B. Brown '44, Hon. '80, P'83, GP'26.
