Invite: Today, Noon, On The Tufts Campus - A Discussion About "Renewing Our Democracy"

There is broad agreement that something feels broken in American politics these days. We all know the story – a dysfunctional Congress; new restrictions on voting, particularly for students, being put into place; new campaign rules allowing unlimited and untraceable contributions giving the wealthiest among us a greater seat at the political table; national elections which do not allow more than three-quarters of the country a meaningful chance to choose their own President; and disappointing levels of voting and participation by far too many.

To look at these issues, and to offer some concrete suggestions for how we can best “renew our democracy” for a new age and a new group of American voters, we’ve assembled a terrific panel of experts. Join us on Wednesday, April 4th at noon, in Barnum 008 at Tufts University to hear from:

Dean James Glaser - Tufts University Dean of Undergraduate Education for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering - who will deliver the closing remarks to put the broader discussion in a historical context.

Peter Levine - Director of Research, CIRCLE at Tisch College, Tufts University - who will discuss the implications of recent voting regulations and restrictions on various populations throughout America, and offer some suggestions on ways we can make the voting system better and more modern in the years ahead.

Simon Rosenberg A85 - President, NDN/New Policy Institute – Joining our event from his home base in Washington, DC, Simon will be setting the scene and talking about what we can do together to make our democracy stronger and once again the envy of the world.

Pam Wilmot - Executive Director, Common Cause Massachusetts - who will talk about a new national effort to abolish the electoral college and replace it with a true one person one vote national election where the candidate who wins the most votes actually wins, and all fifty states get to participate.

Leslie Ogden, A12 – who will be presenting new research showing how unrepresentative and undemocratic the US Senate has become, and offer up some ideas on how to make the Senate better reflect the nation we have become today.

Hosting the luncheon forum on April 4th are a remarkable gathering of institutions: the national think tank NDN/New Policy Institute, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts Roosevelt Institute, CIRCLE at Tisch College, the Institute for Political Citizenship, Tufts Democrats, and Pi Sigma Alpha.  We will begin at noon, at Barnum 008 on the Tufts campus in Medford.  Lunch will be served. Seating is limited so RSVP today.

Update: Be sure to read these two new op-eds in the Tufts Daily as a way to prep for the forum tomorrow:  CIRCLE's Peter Levine on restrictions on student voting, and Pam Wilmot's case for replacing the electoral college with a national popular vote.