A Vision for Building a Multiracial Democracy

Dr. Dayna Cunningham, the new Tisch College dean, outlines key opportunities and responsibilities for higher education in shaping the next generation of engaged citizens.

“Even the poorest communities have assets that are not necessarily recognizable to the outside world. There’s cooperation amongst unemployed mothers to watch each other’s kids or do each other’s laundry. There are all kinds of ways in which people manage to get by with great ingenuity.

I wanted to create a space where people with this great ingenuity could hammer out the technical dimensions of their ideas, get support, and have something credible to put on the table with decision-makers. I wanted to create spaces for people to deliberate with each other about what their future could look like and inform that debate with options they might not have considered. After all, the role of the planning discipline is to present ways of thinking about things that you might not have considered.”