HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—
Valerie B. Jarrett—who for eight years served as a senior advisor to President Barack Obama—told college presidents that they had an important role in preparing students for civic engagement.
Jarrett—who was named a distinguished senior fellow at the University of Chicago’s Law School last month—told those gathered at the Presidents Institute, sponsored by The Council of Independent Colleges that college presidents can use their “bully pulpit” to support and groom students who are committed to justice, equality, free expression and inclusive democratic engagement.
“You have a captive audience,” she told the crowd of college leaders. “Your students should really be students of history. It’s on them to make a difference.”
In a wide-ranging conversation with Elizabethtown College President Dr. Carl J. Strikwerda, Jarrett recounted her own entry into politics more than 30 years ago when she became involved in the broad coalition to elect Harold Washington, who became Chicago’s first Black mayor.
“He woke me up,” said Jarrett about Washington, adding that she had been engaged in the “very boring practice of law” before working on Washington’s campaign that resulted in his election in 1983 and ignited an interest in politics.
She said that during the 2016 presidential election, Americans in general, and college students in particular—simply “slept in, and forgot” to vote.
