{"id":2835,"date":"2025-09-23T09:49:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/campus-reflects-on-the-year-of-democracy-civic-empowerment-and-global-engagement\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:49:13","slug":"campus-reflects-on-the-year-of-democracy-civic-empowerment-and-global-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/campus-reflects-on-the-year-of-democracy-civic-empowerment-and-global-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus reflects on the \u2018Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This past August, the University of Michigan wrapped up its \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/about\/\">Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement<\/a>,\u201d a themed year that involved campus-wide opportunities emphasizing the need to foster meaningful dialogue when confronting national and global challenges. A pillar of the University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/looktomichigan.umich.edu\/\">Vision 2034 plan<\/a>, the University\u2019s focus on democracy will continue past the 2024-2025 academic year as the<a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/\"> Initiative for Democracy &amp; Civic Empowerment<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Year of Democracy offered a variety of resources, including a<a href=\"https:\/\/press.umich.edu\/Books\/Dialogues-in-Democracy\"> Dialogues in Democracy Reading List<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/ginsberg.umich.edu\/teach-democracy\"> Promoting Democracy Teaching Series<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/online.umich.edu\/collections\/democracy\/\"> The Democracy Collection<\/a> available as virtual courses. Inspired by another University-defined <a href=\"https:\/\/looktomichigan.umich.edu\/impact-areas\/\">impact area<\/a>, the 2025-2026 academic year will continue with a new theme \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/futureoflearning.umich.edu\/\">Life-Changing Education<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an email to The Michigan Daily, Dom Adams-Santos, the strategic consultant for democratic engagement for the Initiative for Democracy &amp; Civic Empowerment, said the themed year united students to share diverse perspectives and have conversations that <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/events\/events-archive\/\">spanned across campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt brought together students, faculty, and staff across the University to explore democracy in action,\u201d Adams-Santos wrote. \u201cDuring the 2024\u20132025 academic year, for instance, the program supported a wide range of initiatives, from teaching, research, and event grants to student internships and public events, creating space for the U-M community to engage in democracy-relevant work.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/fordschool.umich.edu\/tags\/bridge-builders\"> Bridge Builders Initiative<\/a>, a mentorship program to promote constructive dialogue and promote conversations across differences for student researchers, also grew out of the Year of Democracy. Public Policy Prof. Stephanie Sanders, director of community engagement overseeing Bridge Builders, wrote in an email to The Daily that the collaboration exemplified the<a href=\"https:\/\/fordschool.umich.edu\/\"> Ford School of Public Policy\u2019s<\/a> interdisciplinary approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy bringing together students from different academic backgrounds, policy interests, and lived experiences, the program enriches dialogue and makes conversations more meaningful,\u201d Sanders wrote. \u201cThe impact is clear in how students describe their growth: they\u2019re simply not learning concepts, they\u2019re changing how they approach conversations, engage with peers they may disagree with, and use these skills into other areas of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Jenna Bednar, co-chair of the Year of Democracy and public policy professor, said there is more to democracy than simply going to the polls on election day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocracy isn\u2019t just about voting,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cVoting is super important, but it\u2019s what we do every day as citizens \u2014 learning what our rights are and also what our responsibilities are as citizens, what our options are as citizens, how our institutions work and how we might reform them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the Initiative for Democracy &amp; Civic Empowerment, Bednar said the program will function similarly to the Year of Democracy \u2014 continuing<a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/funding\/\"> grant programs<\/a>, implementing\u00a0 a<a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/about\/planning-committee\/\"> faculty and staff planning committee<\/a> and working on a Democracy Certificate program proposal \u2014 but the broader future of the program is left to the University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt will be up to the University leadership to decide, do they want to take this on a more permanent basis?\u201d Bednar said. \u201c If so, we are ready to go. And if not, one thing we did is there are some relationships that have been built that I hope can continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LSA senior Hillary Poudeu Tchokothe, president of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govote.umich.edu\/turn-up-turnout\/\"> Turn Up Turnout<\/a>, a non-partisan voter education group, told The Daily working with the Year of Democracy helped the organization launch their new<a href=\"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/134753\"> Maize &amp; Blue Civics<\/a> program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are working with Year of Democracy now to bring experts from different policy fields and student experts to have a panel and we can have an open forum about policy and process,\u201d Poudeu Tchokothe said. \u201cWe had our first one about the state of voting rights last semester, and are really trying to expand the initiative this year even though it\u2019s a non-general election year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poudeu Tchokothe said that to her, democracy means accessibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe democracy is not something that you dip your toes into and then you dip your toes out of; there\u2019s longevity to it, there should be sustainability towards it,\u201d Poudeu Tchokothe said. \u201cDemocracy should be a part of everyone\u2019s life \u2014 citizen, non-citizen. It should be a part of everyone\u2019s life because democracy affects us in every single day in all ways you can even imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Public Policy junior Aidan Rozema, co-chair of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegedemsatum.com\/\"> College Democrats at the University of Michigan<\/a>, agreed with the concept of the Year of Democracy but said some of the stances the University took throughout the year, like<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/news-briefs\/umich-suspends-safe-for-up-to-two-years\/\"> suspending SAFE<\/a>, directly contradicted the program\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s important that when you say you\u2019re going to do something, you actually do it \u2014 you back it up,\u201d Rozema said. \u201cTo me, I see all this high-minded language coming out of the University about democracy and equality and respecting civic engagement at the same time as they\u2019re brutalizing pro-Palestinian protesters, abolishing their rights to protest and shutting down student organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LSA junior Alexander Richmond, president of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/collegerepublicansumich\/?hl=en\"> College Republicans at the University of Michigan<\/a>, said he works to create spaces for open dialogue for conservative students who feel they do not have as many opportunities to speak freely on campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe give people that forum to express themselves and just the different nuances of their opinions when it comes to different policies, whether or not they approve of the current administration (and) the University policies,\u201d Richmond said. \u201cCurrently, we\u2019re trying to have an event with some of the regents where we can have an open dialogue with them about our discontent with a lot of the policies and the implementation \u2014 most of all \u2014 when it comes to free expression on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poudeu Tchokothe said it is important to promote democratic values as non-partisan \u2014 one of the central themes she admired about the Initiative for Democracy &amp; Civic Empowerment \u2014 because democracy is greater than institutions.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI think democracy is resilient,\u201d Poudeu Tchokothe said. \u201cDemocracy will outlive any defiance of the rule of law and any defiance of democratic norms and principles. Democracy will outlive that and be resilient amongst all these attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Staff Reporters Dominic Apap and Aanya Panyadahundi can be reached at dapap@umich.edu and aanyatp@umich.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past August, the University of Michigan wrapped up its \u201cYear of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement,\u201d a themed year that involved campus-wide opportunities emphasizing the need to foster meaningful dialogue when confronting national and global challenges. A pillar of the University\u2019s Vision 2034 plan, the University\u2019s focus on democracy will continue past the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1160,2989,2945,2990,2992,2991,447,750],"class_list":{"0":"post-2835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-campus","9":"tag-civic","10":"tag-democracy","11":"tag-empowerment","12":"tag-engagement","13":"tag-global","14":"tag-reflects","15":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2837,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions\/2837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}