A dream whose time has come: The Demos Center

A few years ago, I was contemplating the state of our world. Unrest. Poverty. A pandering profit-seeking news media. Violence. Income inequality. A warming planet. Intimidating, menacing nationalistic leaders. And politicians and governments not responding to the needs, sometimes desperate needs, of the people they serve.

Democracies all over the world were teetering and faltering. (They still are.) And most to my dismay, in my classroom, my students were feeling hopeless as the world they face seemed out of their reach and out of their control.

What could I do to help restore some hope and teach them that their lives and the state of their world is fully in their control? How could they become active, effective citizens and want to participate in their communities? Complacency and negativity were not the answers, although I couldn’t blame them. It is a different world than the one I grew up in.

I know that citizenship means participation, which is everything in a true democracy. Participation by the citizens of every country on earth could change the quality of life for, literally, millions of people.

My solution was to create a place called The Demos Center, complete with a specialized curriculum where students could study, experience another culture (for inspiration), and, most importantly, to provide the space for them to think, and to be able to reflect on their lives, on life itself, and the state of their world. Within this learning community, we could encourage students to embrace the notion, and believe it, that they have the power and everything to do with solving the problems that the world currently confronts.

The Demos Center, I thought, would also be a place for professionals to come for special seminars, workshops to discuss better ways to lead, to discuss festering problems; the global refugee crisis, for example, and the migration across the globe of humans to other countries not their own.

I decided that the Center needed to be in or near Athens, a fascinating, vibrant, emerging city born of an ancient culture in a country that is one of the most consequential in history and, of course, where democracy itself began. I applied for a sabbatical from my own university, which was granted and so planned to live in Athens for a semester, a city I love and where I was born.

I wrote an email to the former provost of Deree – The American College of Greece, which I thought was the perfect fit. He knew absolutely nothing about me, but I asked him for an invitation to do my sabbatical there. Not only did he agree to the sabbatical; me as a visiting scholar, but he said he was very interested in my idea and that maybe we could build The Demos Center there. He saw what I saw. So did one very enthusiastic, receptive and visonary dean, and so did the director of the Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts who is also a senior adviser to the president of the College.

I spent the semester in Athens and on campus while I started the work of designing the Center, mapping out a curriculum, and describing what I thought, what I believed, it could become. I am grateful that a progressive and open-minded administration at ACG supported and also fully understood the potential of Demos and why it is important, right here, right now as the Center is laser-focused on shaping engaged, active, effective citizenship in young people.

Healthy, flourishing democracies depend on this crucial factor, the participation of their citizens, and also the courage of their citizens to call out problems that need solving and to see to it that they are fixed. Demos will ask students to act and it will inspire them to want to do so.

The Demos Center opens this year on the expansive and state-of-the-art campus of ACG in Agia Paraskevi, a part of suburban Athens. The Center will focus on the pillars of healthy democracies: public policies that serve the people and elected public servants who put the interests of the people before their own careers; an unfettered, free, independent news media; a vibrant art scene that flourishes in all corners of society; and where leaders can naturally emerge with the ability to convey an idea to people and move them to action by their words and deeds in bringing that idea to life.

Committed to broadening the pool of potential civic leaders from the United States and around the world, The Demos Center will host year-round activities to include guest lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, events and exhibitions.

The Center is laser-focused on shaping engaged, active, effective citizenship in young people 

Students can’t study abroad from behind a computer screen on Zoom. Study abroad inherently requires participation in person and in another country. The energy of people together provides the fuel for inspiration, and feeds human nature itself; we need each other to stoke the kindling of fires that generate ideas and whose embers find their way into the world to make a difference. Students, young people need to believe in that possibility. And they need time to think, reflect and to discuss in community with each other, mentors, and teachers.

So, the hallmark of Demos is an annual six-week study abroad citizenship program, which will encourage participatory, active citizenship by providing a high-impact learning experience, that will engage students in understanding and confronting the problems we face at the local, national and global community levels.

By providing foundational lectures, discussions and targeted tours, Demos will invite students to contemplate potential solutions to problems, both big and small, with their classmates. It also will mentor students as they embark on their own creative endeavors, inspired by their colleagues in the program and by Athens itself, in the land where citizenship was born and was first studied as a phenomenon. Students can choose to write research papers, or a series of news articles, produce videos or documentary shorts or create art as activism and they’ll do it all in a country perfect for expanding minds and creative thinking which will, in turn, open up infinite realms of opportunity. This includes invaluable networking opportunities with like-minded people and so-called influencers.

The program also intends to bring in speakers and assemble panels who will represent a number of constituencies including from the Greek government, the Greek news media, documentary film producers, directors and artists.

Greece is a country whose star is rising. The economy is growing. The country will experience a record-breaking number of tourists, tech companies are opening hubs in Greece and the environmental movement to fight climate change has secured a strong foothold. With Greece’s reserves of unlimited wind, water and sun it will surely become a global leader in sustainability.

In fact, Demos is proud of its first partnership with Ecogenia, an organization that aspires to create a national climate corps of young volunteers who are compensated for their service by participating in environmental projects all over Greece. Ecogenia and other advocates and activists from other NGO and nonprofit organizations will be invited to Demos to meet students and talk to them about mobilizing and actualizing their own ideas.

The culmination of the study abroad citizenship program is the Oracle Challenge, which provides an important exercise for students. They will be put into teams when they arrive for orientation day with other students they have never met. The teams will be assigned a particular problem to which they will offer solutions together, bringing their different interests, passions, points of view, and backgrounds to bear. Their presentations will be judged by an expert panel and we hope that the winning team will return to Greece to attend the four-day Athens Democracy Forum in the fall. Demos hopes to establish an ongoing scholarship which will support students in attending this prestigious annual global conference.

Demos welcomes all students, from any and all academic disciplines, but is particularly well-suited for the following: History, Political Science, Sociology, Public Policy, International Affairs, Anthropology, Pre-Law/Law, Economics, Journalism, Documentary Film, Media Production, Photo Journalism, Art as activism.

Demos seeks an inclusive student body that well represents communities of color and brings a diversity of thought, belief and experience and those with a creative, open spirit. Our common issues demand these traits, and commitment to them will allow Demos to provide a stronger, more enriching program and learning experience.

Demos also will invite faculty-led cohorts from community colleges, four-year colleges and universities around the world to bring their students to ACG for tailored, shorter, learning programs that relate to the mission of Demos. Demos will work with those schools and faculty to help develop their experience at ACG and will include ACG faculty as well.

Finally, the Demos Center understands that education also means giving students breathing room, time to relax and socialize. Greece is a country which naturally invites people to do just that, and Demos hopes that our students experience many parts of the country, including the islands, as they deepen the friendships they will make through the Demos experience, which we hope is contagious.

We are guided by the philosopher Epictetus, who said, “Devote yourself to making progress.” Our hope is that students will embrace and actualize this sentiment by returning to their home campuses as Demos-inspired, effective, committed civic leaders fostering active citizenship, the very hallmark of democracy itself.

Dr Mary Cardaras is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, writer, and associate professor and current chair of political science at California State University, East Bay. She is the director of The Demos Center at The American College of Greece.

Demos is a unit of the Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts. If you have questions about the institute, are interested in partnering with Demos, would like to offer or establish financial support, are interested in sponsoring programming related to the mission of Demos, or are interested in bringing your students to Demos @ ACG, contact Dr Mary Cardaras, the director of The Demos Center, @ [email protected].