Rutgers University leaders recently announced a long-term initiative to support civic education and create broad civic engagement opportunities with a strong emphasis on student involvement and solution-focused dialogue.
The Rutgers Democracy Lab at the Eagleton Institute of Politics will aim to promote a civic-minded community informed by research and analysis of citizenship, political participation and civil discourse.
Based on the principle that democracy is strengthened when informed citizens understand how government is structured, how to discern truth from disinformation and how to civilly engage with people who hold different views, the RDL will draw on university students, faculty and researchers to connect with community members, civic groups, practitioners and others to help tackle challenges facing American democracy and society.
The RDL, in development for a year, will officially launch on the New Brunswick campus in January and ultimately have a presence on every Rutgers campus. Planned initiatives include:
- Forming a Think and Do Tank where students from different academic programs across the university work alongside faculty, practitioners and community partners to solve complex, multidisciplinary issues. Participating students will receive stipends and be eligible for academic credit.
- Interweaving civic learning and engagement throughout the academic culture of Rutgers through promotion and creation of hands-on, skill-building activities and experiential learning opportunities. Stipends will be available for students seeking internships and similar real-world experiences, ensuring that all students have access to these high-impact learning opportunities.
- Expanding Rutgers Scarlet Service to a year-round program to involve hundreds of students. Scarlet Service was first launched by President Holloway in 2022 to provide paid summer internships for students to serve the common good and work with people from different backgrounds.
- Creating a Social Media and Democracy Research Hub to supply faculty, staff and students with data and information to complement programs, research and education offered through the RDL and other areas of the university. Analysis will include examining the relationship between social media use and civic engagement, and the pervasive influence of technology, including artificial intelligence.
- Conducting assessments of RDL programming and research and publication of scholarship related to the effectiveness of civic learning at Rutgers and beyond.
- Encouraging faculty from all disciplines – whether in STEM or humanities – to integrate civic engagement learning into their coursework. Campus-specific workshops and programming will provide faculty support and professional development.
Elizabeth Matto, director of the Eagleton Institute and acting director of Eagleton’s Center for Youth Political Participation, said the lab makes sense on a variety of levels.
“The Rutgers Democracy Lab is a meaningful extension of the core mission of the Eagleton Institute of Politics to equip students from all disciplines – whether engineering, business or dance – with the skills of democratic citizenship and foster in them an inclination to be civically engaged,” she said.
“Our students will not only gain an invaluable civic skill set, their participation in the Rutgers Democracy Lab promises to inspire civic leadership and foster a sense of commitment to democracy and public service.”
The RDL, which will combine existing programs at Eagleton with new initiatives, will be funded by a donation from Robert W. Gottesman and Trudy Elbaum Gottesman.
The Gottesmans said they chose Rutgers because of the university’s and Eagleton’s longstanding work in cultivating civic responsibility and leadership. This includes decades of contributions to the study of American government, democracy and political participation, as well as President Holloway’s commitment to civic engagement. The Gottesmans previously supported initiatives through the Miller Center at Eagleton that created nonpartisan social media content to give young voters information on how elections, voting and democracy work.
“Rutgers University has all the essential ingredients to launch the Democracy Lab – a vibrant and diverse student body, a tradition of fostering democratic dialogue and leadership, an accomplished faculty and the Eagleton Institute’s expertise and reputation nationally in examining these issues,” Robert Gottesman said.
“Students will be at the heart of this lab, not just studying the global challenges to democracy, but putting democracy into action. When you combine their energy and fresh perspectives with Rutgers’ scale and deep institutional commitment, we have begun something truly transformative and so important. Trudy and I are honored to support this groundbreaking initiative, and we are excited at its promise.”
