Vanderbilt Project On Unity And American Democracy

Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-VA, and Don Bacon, R-NE, and Sens. Gary Peters, D-MI, and John Cornyn, R-TX, top their respective lists of the most effective Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the recently completed 117th Congress (2021–23), according to the latest round of legislative effectiveness scores compiled by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint initiative between Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, to discuss their book, The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of the Big Lie, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. at the Scarritt Bennett Center. Read More

Bestselling authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser will join Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Jon Meacham for an evening of discussion Dec. 7 surrounding the legacy of the Trump presidency and the midterm elections’ potential impact on our country’s fractured politics. Read More

With consequential midterm elections less than one month away, the Vanderbilt University Debate Team will host an intercollegiate debate this weekend on how to improve U.S. election processes and boost voter turnout. The event will be on Saturday, Oct. 15, at The Commons Center Multipurpose Room. Read More

Americans’ general faith and trust in democracy has stabilized in the first half of 2022, remaining relatively flat through the second quarter, according to the most recent Vanderbilt Unity Index. Read More

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier participated in a conversation titled “The Path Forward for Academic Freedom in Higher Ed” as part of the world-renowned Aspen Ideas Festival on June 29. The panel set out to explore the “twin ideals of open inquiry and free expression” as well as higher education’s unique role in advancing these forces. Read More

The first two episodes of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy’s “Unity Talks” series are now available for viewing. In episode one, Arts and Science Dean John Geer speaks with New York Times national political correspondent Jonathan Martin, and in episode two, former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam speaks with Yuval Levin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy hosted a live virtual discussion June 7 to discuss the nation's mass shootings and the continued divisiveness about gun violence and legislation. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host a live virtual panel discussion, “Facts and Evidence: Navigating the Gun Debate in America,” on Tuesday, June 7, at noon CT to discuss the issue of gun violence in America. Read More

A new index designed by researchers at Vanderbilt University shows a steady erosion of trust in American political institutions over the past 40 years, with it hitting its lowest point in 2017 after racial unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Read More

Nearly 200 alumni and parent volunteers returned to campus April 1–2 for the annual Volunteer Leadership Weekend. The weekend’s theme, Vanderbilt in Classroom, Community and Conversation, was designed to give university volunteer leaders an inside view of changes underway at Vanderbilt and to provide firsthand insights from university leaders, faculty and students about how these initiatives improve the educational experience.   Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy has announced the formation of a 26-member advisory board spanning multiple backgrounds and fields—from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and biographer Walter Isaacson to Grammy-winning artists Faith Hill and Tim McGraw—that is committed to the project’s mission to elevate facts and evidence-based reasoning in American political discourse. Read More

During the first-ever public conversation between former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and sex trafficking victim and convicted murderer Cyntoia Brown-Long, the two agreed that significant improvements are needed in the criminal justice system. On March 15, Brown-Long and Haslam came together for Vanderbilt’s first public lecture at Langford Auditorium since the COVID-19 pandemic halted similar events for nearly two years.  Read More

For the first time since former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted clemency to sex trafficking victim and convicted murderer Cyntoia Brown Long, the two will sit down together for an event at Vanderbilt University to discuss criminal justice reform. The discussion will be held in Langford Auditorium and via livestream on Tuesday, March 15, at 6 p.m. CT. Read More

As Russia unleashed an assault against Ukraine on Thursday, a panel of Vanderbilt experts brought context to the developments during a virtual event on the escalating conflict and its potential global implications. Read More

Climate change and environmental issues can no longer be considered partisan if any real progress is going to be made, according to experts who participated in a virtual discussion hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy on Feb. 22. Read More

Vanderbilt Law School professor Michael Vandenbergh will discuss bipartisan efforts to address climate change and sustainability with environmental activist Benji Backer in a virtual event on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 12:30 p.m. hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Read More

Vanderbilt students are invited to express how they feel about unity and democracy through a new poetry contest. The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy is conducting the contest in partnership with Vanderbilt’s English department and MFA program in creative writing. The theme is “What unity through American democracy means to me.” Read More

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham discussed the complex intersection of religion and politics in American democracy on Jan. 13 as part of a virtual event hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy and Vanderbilt Divinity School. Read More

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham will discuss the intersection of religion and politics in the U.S. during a Jan. 13 discussion hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy and Vanderbilt Divinity School. Read More