10 Campus Museums Shine a Spotlight on Democracy

At a time when higher education leaders are facing relentless criticism over their handling of free speech and political protests, 10 university museums have planned nonpartisan shows focused on democracy, with the goal of getting students more engaged.

Exhibitions involving racial justice, the climate crisis and other timely issues are nothing new, but a collaboration like this is unusual.

The universities, all large and public, began discussing how to join forces several years ago, said Christina Olsen, director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor and one of the drivers of the alliance.

The effort was in reaction to a variety of factors, including the country’s increasing polarization, low student voter turnout and, in Michigan, the attempted kidnapping of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 by men who officials said belonged to an anti-government militia.

“All that was background to an urgency, in my mind, to help students literally vote, but also to take the temperature down on the vitriol and provide places and ways for people to think and talk across profound differences,” Olsen said.