With a critical election approaching this fall, a gift from Marsha and Henry Laufer (pictured below with President Pines) will accelerate efforts across the University of Maryland to strengthen democracy. The gift will support the work of the Maryland Democracy Initiative (MDI), an interdisciplinary effort that weaves together expertise from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the College of Education, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, and the School of Public Policy to generate novel approaches to grand challenges facing our democracy.
MDI has made significant progress toward this mission by focusing on the grand challenge of mobilizing colleges and schools to welcome all new voters. All across the world, data shows new voters participating at lower rates than voters who have been participating for many years. This problem is particularly acute in the United States, where the disparity in participation rates between younger and older voters is especially large. According to Resliancy Research being done in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at UMD, this failure to include new voters weakens our society and leaves democracies across the world less resilient in the face of growing long-term threats. Both the K-12 and higher education systems offer extraordinary opportunities to welcome all new voters to our democracy. MDI weaves together expertise from across four UMD colleges and schools to address this challenge in original and unique ways.
The gift from Marsha and Henry Laufer will dramatically accelerate UMD’s work in this area. The gift will support the Laufer Democracy Internship Program, a prestigious opportunity for 18 top UMD students to receive an entire summer of funding to work in some of the most impactful organizations in the nation working to strengthen voter mobilization and voter education in colleges and schools. This internship program is being developed in partnership with the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, the nation’s strategy hub and largest non-partisan network dedicated to increasing college student voting rates. The Laufer Democracy Internship Program builds on MDI’s work in 2023, hosting the National Student Vote Summit at UMD and establishing the Student Vote Research Network to generate more useful knowledge for this field. Students participating in the Laufer Democracy Internship Program will get a unique opportunity to both pursue professional development at their placement and work with MDI faculty to pursue groundbreaking research into the most effective strategies for mobilizing student voters. The program further establishes UMD as a crucially important convener and research hub for efforts to mobilize colleges and schools to welcome all new voters.
"The Students Learn Students Vote Coalition couldn't be more excited to continue our strong partnership with the Maryland Democracy Initiative by supporting the placement of University of Maryland students with internships at nonpartisan organizations working to strengthen our democracy," said SLSV Co-Founder & Executive Director Clarissa Unger. "Marsha and Henry Laufer's visionary gift is an example for all alumni seeking to support their alma maters in ways that not only benefit the university but also benefit their students and our democracy."
The Laufer gift also supports the growth of a new research network that MDI faculty and fellows are establishing to generate knowledge about efforts to mobilize high schools to welcome new voters to our democracy. MDI faculty are using the gift to host the first in-person convening of the network, planned for June. This convening will be the first time that many of the nation’s most innovative organizations working to welcome new voters through high schools have met to establish a shared agenda for the field. MDI will also use the funding to support several important interdisciplinary research projects that weave together political science, education, policy, and journalism expertise to better understand how to seize unique opportunities associated with using schools as sites for non-partisan voter education and mobilization.
“2024 is going to be a crucial year for American democracy. Through the Maryland Democracy Initiative, the University of Maryland is uniquely positioned to meet the moment by activating its extraordinary talent, knowledge, and convening power, said Mike Hanmer, co-principal investigator for MDI. “This gift from Marsha and Henry Laufer will accelerate and strengthen that work at a crucial and strategic moment for our University and our democracy.”