5 Presidents Join College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Princeton, NJ, August 31, 2026: A new group of five college and university leaders from diverse higher education institutions across the country has joined the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a unique coalition convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. 

These five campus leaders represent six institutions joining the coalition for the first time, along with one returning president continuing his engagement with the coalition at a new institution: 

William Dudley, Claremont McKenna College

Tom Stritikus, Occidental College

Kenneth Ruscio, Washington and Lee University

Linda Thompson, Westfield State University

Kenneth Janz, Winona State University

Three of these institutions—Occidental College, Westfield State University, and Winona State University—are represented in the coalition for the first time. Claremont McKenna College and Washington and Lee University are continuing their institutions’ previous engagement with the coalition under new leadership.

The presidents join a coalition of over 135 leaders from diverse institutions across the country, uniting to advance the pivotal role of higher education in preparing students to be engaged citizens. Participating presidents are dedicated to defending free expression, civil discourse, and critical inquiry as essential civic norms. Presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments:

• Educating for democracy is central to our mission.
• We will prepare our students for a vibrant, diverse, and contentious society.
• We will protect and defend free inquiry.

Taken together, these fresh commitments embrace both free speech and diversity, two values often pitted against each other, by instead emphasizing meaningful engagement and inquiry with different voices and viewpoints. The commitments stress diversity as a strength of both American democracy and campus life and affirm the truth-seeking role of higher education through curiosity and inquiry. They also enable campus leaders to take substantive action to promote democratic engagement among students, with public accountability for progress through the publication of an annual impact report.

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The Institute for Citizens & Scholars cultivates talent, ideas, and networks that develop young people as effective, lifelong citizens. We unite the left, right, and center to develop breakthrough solutions that create stronger citizens in our country, and we bring these solutions to life by forming strategic partnerships with an intentionally diverse group of young people, scholars, and education leaders, and civic and business leaders—including the 27,000 world-leading Fellows in our network. Together, we’re on a mission to ensure that Americans everywhere are civically well-informed, productively engaged, and committed to democracy.

Media contact: press@collegepresidents.org