In the entryway of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, the Rutgers Democracy Lab recently launched a “democracy wall” project that poses thought‑provoking questions and invites students to respond.
Our first prompt asked students to “make a wish” for the nation’s 250th anniversary, linking the commemoration of our founding to the realities of democracy today.
The responses revealed a desire to move beyond the divisions of contemporary politics, with calls for “unity,” “peace,” “hope” and even “bipartisan agreement” — a sentiment echoed by a More in Common study in which 67% of Americans said the nation needs to heal.
As director of the Rutgers Democracy Lab, my hope is that higher education can use this historic milestone to foster democratic practices that will serve as a foundation for the next 250 years.
Given the widespread dissatisfaction with our shared civic life — with 84% of Americans believing democracy is “in crisis or facing serious challenges” — there is no doubt this is a moment of urgency.
Prominent civic scholars, such as Harvard’s Danielle Allen, have called for “democratic renovation,” proposing policies and practices to revitalize civic culture, redesign institutions and shape policy.
But my wish for civic renewal starts with something simpler: that campuses teach the arts of civil discourse.
People can solve public problems together only if they learn to talk with one another, especially those with whom they disagree.
The republic likely cannot continue on its current trajectory, in which 58% of young people foresee a civil war in their lifetimes, according to a Marist poll.
We must cultivate the next generation of leaders to guide us in a new direction and that work can begin with conversations about the issues that truly matter.
Encouragingly, a growing movement on college campuses is doing just that. While some public engagement at universities mirrors the toxic polarization of national politics — free speech controversies, fights over federal budget cuts and the dismantling of diversity programs — a more citizen‑centered approach to politics is also emerging.
It garners fewer headlines, but the idea that “conversation is the new counterculture” captures this more relational, dialogue‑based engagement.
Rather than shutting one another down or canceling opposing views, this new counterculture invites students to practice the civic skills that sustain a healthy democracy: asking questions, listening, weighing tensions and trade‑offs, working collaboratively and responding to real‑world problems with responsible action.
A team of student leaders at Rutgers University recently put these skills into practice by hosting a public dialogue at the library, launching a series of events throughout April focused on addressing society’s grand challenges.
“Real democracy is built in the spaces between elections,” said student leader Janina Walburg. A fellow in the Talking Across Difference program, Walburg added that it emerges “in the conversations we choose to have, in the communities we choose to build and in the courage we find to engage with people who are not like us.”
If efforts like these can be scaled across educational institutions, they have the potential to transform the adversarial politics that continue to dominate public life, equipping a new generation with civic skills they can carry into their careers and communities.
An informal study from the Lumina Foundation points to “a rapidly expanding landscape of initiatives aimed at fostering civil discourse and constructive dialogue.” Of the more than 100 intensive programs examined, 25 were launched in the past year.
This trend aligns with findings from Heterodox Academy, which reports a proliferation of civics centers at colleges and universities across the United States, many of them focused on civil discourse through campus programs, coursework and research.
Some argue that civil discourse alone is insufficient in this moment, given the rise of authoritarianism and democratic backsliding in the United States and globally, as documented in the latest Freedom House report.
While that concern is justified, I am reminded of the response Myles Horton gave to critics of the Highlander Folk School, a hub of educational programming during the civil rights movement.