October 18, 2024

Hello, alumni, colleagues, and friends across the University of Michigan community:

A healthy, vibrant democracy begins with a choice. A choice to listen respectfully and to speak constructively as we think, act, and engage with one another. It’s a choice we can make each day. And through our choices, we can change our nation, we can transform our world, we can shape our society. That’s why we’ve launched the Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement.

This is an essential initiative for the University. It is also a vital part of our efforts under Vision 2034, through which we will seek to become the defining public university. So throughout the year, we will build on our tradition of activism and social change, while fostering constructive conversations across diverse perspectives. Let us commit as a community to deep listening and learning, as well as respectful and spirited dialogue and debate.

A bridge to the future

We will also be hosting a range of events across the campus, designed to inform, inspire, and educate, to help each of us appreciate the vital role we can play in addressing the critical challenges facing our nation today.

You can learn more about those opportunities and activities at the initiative’s website. I also encourage you to check out Dialogues In Democracy, an interdisciplinary collection of the University of Michigan Press books that explore the core tensions in American political culture. I hope we’ll understand the incredible opportunity that each of us has to live under democratic governance, as well as our requisite responsibilities.

The success of this yearlong initiative depends on each of us, but it would not have come together without the incredible efforts of these co-chairs and their teams. That’s why they’re this month’s Portrait of a Wolverine. They’re here to talk more about the importance of this year and how we can become engaged.

As we turn to the critical days ahead of the election, let us conclude as we began. The success of our democracy depends upon each of us, and it depends on the choices we make every day. So let’s join together in this Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement. Let us listen, let us act, let us engage. Let us strengthen our nation. Let us shape our world, and let us lift our society.

Sincerely,

Santa J. Ono, PhD
President

(Lead image credit: Michigan Photography)