Where Democracy Happens
Building on Wesleyan’s long tradition of supporting civic engagement, the University is launching a nationwide effort to engage students throughout the summer and fall leading up to the midterm elections. The national, non-partisan effort will train and place students in internships and placement opportunities where they can work to protect and preserve free and fair elections.
“There is a lot of conversation happening across the country about the state of U.S. democracy, about the role of young people, and the role of institutions of higher education,” said Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, executive director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement. “This is an opportunity for people to move beyond the cynicism that some of us feel, the ambivalence, and think about collective action and non-partisan collaboration.”
The timing of the effort aligns with observances of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, which provides an opportunity to reflect on our past and future. “Higher education has thrived in the ecosystem of freedoms provided by our democracy,” said President Michael S. Roth ’78 in a New York Times opinion essay. “Today that ecosystem is under enormous strain, and as teachers and students we must now rise to its defense.”
The Allbritton Center will collaborate with partners to recruit students at colleges and universities across the country. These students, organized into clusters, will receive training to work with election officials or organizations that engage in one of four key areas: election administration and operations; voter education and access; public communication; or research, policy and data support for election agencies.
“We've had conversations with a lot of national partners who are already in this space and do this work every day, and based on those conversations, this is where we see not only great need, but also great opportunity,” Brown-Dean said. In the upcoming midterm elections, students could contribute as poll workers, which are often hard to find, or assist with nonpartisan voter education, for example.
These opportunities will begin over the summer and extend into the fall. The skills students gain will not only help their communities but contribute to leadership development and knowledge for future elections and potential careers. Each participant will produce a public “share out” of their experience, which could take the form of a reflective essay, multimedia project, or campus presentation. At Wesleyan, the sharing could be done through a student forum, WESU broadcast, or a short film, Brown-Dean said.
Ultimately, the goals of the summer engagement efforts—Democracy Summer—are to develop a new generation of civic leaders, strengthen election administration, and demonstrate that young people are stewards of the democratic process.
“It is really about helping to surface and platform the opportunities that are out there,” said Brown-Dean. “How one school may approach that may be different from us, but we can all learn from one another. That's how you help democracy work for the people who are defending it, but also the people who are affected by it.”
The Democracy Summer efforts are part of Renewing Democracy's Promise, Wesleyan's three-year initiative to strengthen democratic culture at a moment when polarization is testing communities across the nation. The initiative also includes this year's Hugo Black Lecture on Freedom and Expression: A Conversation with Cornel West and Robert P. George on March 27.
