This week, Danielle Allen joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer on Terms of Engagement.
The Trump Administration’s new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” was largely met with skepticism and criticism by university leaders, but Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, argues that we shouldn’t dismiss the opportunity the compact presents. While she asserts universities shouldn’t sign the compact, Allen notes this could be a chance for a coalition of universities to work together to negotiate a package of reforms for higher education — this time through Congress, resulting in legislation rather than federal overreach.
This week, Allen joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer on Terms of Engagement to discuss.
Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy.
Allen’s work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change at the helm of a $6 billion foundation, writing as a national opinion columnist, advocating for cannabis legalization, democracy reform, and civic education, and most recently, to running for governor of Massachusetts. During the height of COVID in 2020, Allen’s leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in the country’s first-ever Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience; her policies were adopted in federal legislation and a presidential executive order. She made history as the first Black woman ever to run for statewide office in Massachusetts. She was the 2020 winner of the Library of Congress’ Kluge Prize, which recognizes scholarly achievement in the disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prize. She received the Prize “for her internationally recognized scholarship in political theory and her commitment to improving democratic practice and civics education.”
A past chair of the Mellon Foundation and Pulitzer Prize Board, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Philosophical Society. As a scholar, she currently concentrates on the Democratic Knowledge Project and Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative, housed at the Safra Center, on the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, housed at Harvard’s Ash Center, and on the Our Common Purpose Commission at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Learning from the natural sciences, she has built a lab to extend the impact of work in the humanities and social sciences.
Outside the University, she is Founder and President for Partners In Democracy, where she continues to advocate for democracy reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. She also serves on the board of the Cambridge Health Alliance.
Why I’m Excited About the White House’s Proposal for a Higher Ed Compact, Danielle Allen, The Renevator
Regarding the Compact, Sally Kornbluth, MIT President