VWU President Joins Nationwide Effort to Strengthen Democracy
New initiative to mold students as engaged citizens, uphold free expression on campus, and promote civil discourse
University News | May 2, 2024
Recognizing this urgent moment for American higher education and our democracy, Virginia Wesleyan University President Scott D. Miller, Ph.D., is joining 60 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country, including Dartmouth, Georgetown, and Notre Dame, to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus. 
Through the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a unique consortium designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, participating presidents are dedicated to preparing the next generation of well-informed, productively engaged and committed citizens; defending free expression, civil discourse and critical inquiry as essential civic norms, and increasing thoughtful engagement and better understanding by students for the effective functioning of our democracy. The consortium, first announced with 15 members in August 2023, has grown significantly, demonstrating momentum for this movement.
Participating presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments:
- Educating for democracy is central to our mission
- We will prepare our students for a vibrant, diverse, and contentious society
- We will protect and defend free inquiry.
Taken together, these fresh commitments embrace both free speech and diversity, two values often pitted against each other, by instead emphasizing meaningful engagement and inquiry with different voices and viewpoints. The commitments stress diversity as a strength of both American democracy and campus life and affirm the truth-seeking role of higher education through curiosity and inquiry. They also enable campus leaders to take substantive action to promote democratic engagement among students, with public accountability for progress through publication of an annual impact report.
“This initiative intersects at a critical junction in our nation’s history,” says Dr. Miller. “A large number our citizens believe they are not being heard. It is incumbent on our institutions of higher learning to produce leaders that can channel all voices within the American lexicon into a productive dialogue.”
Participating presidents are developing campus-specific programming to advance the Civic Commitments in 2024. Virginia Wesleyan University has a long history of civic engagement including community-based coursework, faculty-led programming related to free expression and bridging across conflict, and non-partisan initiatives focused on registering students to vote and be engaged in the democratic process. VWU's civic commitments can be found in numerous University initiatives including:
- VWU Robert Nusbaum Center: aims to create a civil society through education, respectful dialogue, and mutual understanding. It equips and empowers students and community members to be leaders and citizens who value diversity and understand how the reconciliation of religious, racial, and ideological differences create meaningful opportunities for civil solutions to difficult and urgent problems.
- Wesleyan Engaged, Marlins Vote, and ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge: nurtures partnerships with civic organizations in order to facilitate meaningful student engagement activities, encourages students and the broader campus community to become active participants in the electoral process, and to improve the Hampton Roads community and beyond.
- Marlins Get Civic and VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads: emphasizes the power of action and community. In partnership with Volunteer Hampton Roads, VWU strives to increase student volunteerism, cultivates leaders, and ensures a sustainable bond between students and the Coastal Virginia region.
In addition to championing the Civic Commitments on their own campuses, President Miller and consortium’s presidents will undertake together and through the Institute a set of collective actions:
- Meet regularly and confidentially for peer learning and the exchange of information, ideas, practices, and tools, including on such topics as the 2024 elections and student activism
- Help faculty engage effectively with free expression and civil discourse in the classroom by participating in the Faculty Institute on Dialogue Across Difference
- Create and seize opportunities for shared advocacy and public outreach on civic preparedness in higher education
“Higher education has a responsibility to provide students with critical civic skills and knowledge to participate effectively in our constitutional democracy,” said Rajiv Vinnakota, President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, a nonprofit that cultivates talent, ideas, and networks that develop young people as effective, lifelong citizens. “College campuses are among the most diverse spaces in our country, and college is an important time for students to develop the habits, practices, and norms to live in a multicultural and interconnected democracy. Doing so can create a ripple effect, making young people more optimistic and increasingly committed about their future and our nation.”
College Presidents for Civic Preparedness has been supported by ECMC Foundation, Einhorn Collaborative, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, One8 Foundation, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Lumina Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, and Teagle Foundation, with individual campuses providing support for their own related projects.