Throughout the month of April, Rutgers Democracy Lab supported more than a dozen events and workshops across the university that engaged thousands of students, faculty, and local community members to better understand complex, adaptive problems facing our democracy—and work towards solving them.
In an op-ed for NJ.com, Rutgers Democracy Lab inaugural Director Nicholas V. Longo comments on the growth of university-based civic thought and dialogue initiatives across the United States, arguing that Rutgers Democracy Lab is a model example of how campuses can cultivate civil discourse through structured, student-led dialogue and civic programming.
In an interview with Times Higher Education by Patrick Jack, Nicholas V. Longo, the inaugural director of the Rutgers Democracy Lab, argues that universities need to provide opportunities for “civic mobility"—the process of cultivating students' civic muscles through applied civic dialogue, civic studies and civic engagement.
Elizabeth Matto, the Executive Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics and Rutgers University Research Professor, recently published an op-ed in the New Jersey School Boards Association April 2026 issue of New Jersey Lawyer.
On March 31, 2026, over 70 students across the Rutgers Democracy Lab community convened in The Hatchery at Alexander Library for the launch of the Common Grounds Project, a student-led initiative to cultivate third spaces for civic dialogue on Rutgers campuses.
Nicholas V. Longo, the inaugural director of the Rutgers Democracy Lab, insists democracy is something you learn by doing – not just in a classroom or at the ballot box, but in the everyday work of navigating challenges, listening to others and finding common ground.