Unity

 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 holding the contest in partnership with the Department of English and Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program. The theme is “what unity through American democracy means… Read More

Students in the political science course, Unity and American Democracy, are no strangers to high-profile guest speakers. Throughout the semester, they have been hearing from renowned experts and leaders. But when they entered the classroom on Tuesday, November 30, they found one of Vanderbilt’s own at the lectern: Chancellor… Read More

  Former Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist shared examples from his time in political office and gave advice on what could help current lawmakers work toward compromise in a recent panel discussion on effective lawmaking. The virtual discussion, “The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Turbulent Times,” was… Read More

While national lawmakers are often seen drawing party lines and taking sides, local and regional governments across the nation can typically come to solutions more quickly and easily. A group of former and current municipal leaders came together in a virtual discussion on Nov. 3 to talk about how… Read More

In 1876, America weathered an economic roller coaster, a questionable presidential election and social unrest. Many envisioned the nation’s colleges and universities as the institutions best equipped to maintain the bonds between citizens and their elected government. However, a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, rather than a professor or college president, would provide the framework which enabled American colleges and universities to rise to global preeminence, when Henry Martyn Robert published the first edition of his Robert’s Rules of Order. Read More

  A group of Vanderbilt scholars with legal, historical and political expertise on immigration came together Oct. 19 to discuss the crisis around Haitian migrants at the southern U.S. border and the recent influx of Afghan refugees to the United States. “Migration is a fundamental evolutionary strategy for the last… Read More

Unity’s definition is too often inspected under a microscope—or rather a macroscope—of division among differing groups at a grand scale, lacking little attention to the methods by which unity arrives among all groups, such as those characterized by an overlapping interest, belief, healing wound, or relationship. Even more so, all forms of unity—whether it is nations or neighbors—share a common thread of connection which permits for a sustainable agreement. Read More

By: Hee Na Cho, Class of 2025 When it comes to unity, the question often asked usually does not concern its definition; rather, many choose to consider the question, “Why are we polarized?” As a freshman with no extensive knowledge on political science, I would have trouble explaining where unity… Read More

By: Brennan Cegelka, Class of 2023  On the day America declared its independence from Great Britain, the Continental Congress tasked three of our most esteemed Founding Fathers – Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, with creating the first seal of the United States. While the seal they proposed ultimately… Read More

By: Daniel Baisier, Class of 2022 Unity: it seemed to be the Biden campaign’s favorite word. Since January, it has also become a subject of mockery by Biden’s critics. When Congress passed a $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill along party lines and when Biden took jabs at Republican-backed changes to… Read More