Democracy Week 2025 is a wrap!

From October 10-27 the Rutgers Democracy Lab (RDL) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics hosted the university’s first-ever Democracy Week, and the numbers speak for themselves.

• 19 events across Rutgers–New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden
• 800+ students engaged in programs and discussions
• 15+ schools, departments, and centers were awarded funding
• 17 days of civic dialogue, creativity, and action

With the theme “Inspiring Democratic Engagement,” Democracy Week united students, faculty, and staff into exploring what it means to participate in our shared future.

• A packed “Dialogue on Democracy” event in New Brunswick that kicked off the week with open conversation and energy.
• A community “print-in” where students collaborated with the Scarlet Letter Press to create handmade posters and zines promoting democratic ideas.
• A Nurse State Policy Advocacy Day, which took nursing students to the State House and encouraged them to use their voices as future healthcare workers.
• The first live recording of “All Teach, All Listen: Beyond the ECHO,” bringing faculty and students together for dialogue across disciplines.
• A Medical Op-ed Writing Workshop that helped future physicians use their voices for civic change.
• The RU–Newark Civic Impact Forum, connecting local engagement efforts across campus and city.

These events, and all the others, reflected what Democracy Week is all about: building civic knowledge, strengthening participation, and making democracy feel real, relevant, and alive on campus.

As the week wrapped up, one thing was clear: Rutgers showed up for democracy.