By Delaney Runge
Copy Editor
Dr. Patrick Nugent, the Miller Director of Civic Engagement at the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, and students in his American civic engagement course are working together on a new project called the Democratic Revitalization Research Initiative.
This class acts as a collaboration between the political science department and the Starr Center that will focus on the initiative and elements of civic participation.
“The American Civic Engagement course will explore models of impactful civic leadership across the nation’s 250-year experiment with democracy, considering examples of advocacy, compromise, coalition-building, boycott, civil disobedience, and public research,” Dr. Nugent said. “By semester’s end, I’ve asked students to speak to their own unique approach to civic leadership and how they will put their civic purpose and passions into democratic practice.”
This project will act as a way for the College’s students to take on a role in better understanding the local community.
According to a letter from Mayor David Foster to the students within Nugent’s course, the project’s scope is “cataloguing successful tools and strategies employed by municipalities across America to strengthen democratic participation.”
Throughout this initiative the local Chestertown government is interested in growing voter participation and interest for all residents, according to the letter.
According to Dr. Nugent, this research initiative developed from the combined effort of the Starr Center and the Chestertown mayor and town council.
“Together, we’ve collaborated on student engagement opportunities, service-learning internships, and town-planning projects,” Dr. Nugent said. “This semester, the town council and mayor wanted to partner on a more substantial, course-based research project. They want to ensure our town vibrates with diverse democratic engagement and they have called upon our students to help advise them to the best strategies and structures to inspire such robust participation.”
Mayor Foster feels that this research will be helpful in working to understand why certain places have better democratic participation.
“We can learn from what other communities have done: study various towns across Maryland, some with relatively high participation rates and others with low ones and try to understand what does make a difference,” Mayor Foster said.
Junior Jordan Hyde is a student in Dr. Nugent’s class and sees this project as a way to address a need for democratic modernization.
“A project like this is important for Washington College students because it demonstrates the need for innovation within our democracy,” Hyde said. “The way towards political and social change is through progressive ideas, most of which are collaborative.”
Another student, junior Stephen Hook feels lucky to work on a project that could have real-world implications like the Democratic Revitalization Research Initiative.
“It’s not often that our coursework applies directly to the place we’re living in, so I’m excited to make a difference in our town,” Hook said.
Chestertown council member of Ward One Tim O’Brien sees this as a natural collaboration for the town and College.
“The College approached us with this initiation…and it’s just logical,” O’Brien said. “I fully support Washington College and I want to see more interaction.”
Through this initiative, the end intention is for the students to present their findings through this research.
“The goal is to offer our town a snapshot of the most visionary strategies and steps being taken by municipalities across the globe to revitalize and renew democratic engagement,” Dr. Nugent said. “While there is no promise the town council will implement our students’ findings, I anticipate that student recommendations will create further conversation and momentum. If done well, I would also expect the college might receive more requests for public-facing, course-based research.”
Mayor Foster is confident in WC students’ research abilities and the potential positive impact of their future findings.
“I really am optimistic that after this [initiative] they’re going to be able to identify areas where participation is higher and hopefully come up with not only why those communities became more actively involved, but which of those ideas are translatable or transferable to Chestertown,” Mayor Foster said.