With the primary election over, California’s field is now nearly set. And as we turn toward the November midterms and consider the future of our democracy more broadly, one truth stands out: education matters, and colleges and universities have a vital role to play in strengthening democratic life.
Just days before California voters received their primary ballots in May, eight gubernatorial candidates took the stage at Pomona College for one of the most consequential debates of this contentious election cycle. With no clear front-runner, a crowded field, and voters still deeply divided, the conversation felt unusually urgent, especially for young people who will live longest with the decisions at stake.
California’s future is theirs.
Anyone who regularly speaks with students knows that the issues dominating the race, such as affordability, higher education, housing, economic mobility, and public trust, are already influencing their choices about where to live, work, and build sustainable futures.
A college campus is the ideal venue for discussions like these, and putting students at the center of the debate was a reminder of something higher education can do far more deliberately.
Colleges and universities once regularly served as civic gathering places for candidate forums and public debate. That tradition has faded in some corners, even as students remain profoundly affected by political decisions. So as Pomona’s president, I could not be prouder of the role that our community, along with our partners CBS California and Asian Pacific American Public Affairs, played in producing a live broadcast that not only reached statewide, national, and global audiences, but also gave hundreds of our own students and campus community members the chance to engage directly with the democratic process in a meaningful and personal way.
Our students approached the opportunity with open hearts and intellectual integrity. Through a college-wide process, they were invited to develop some of the questions posed to candidates, ensuring that the concerns animating the conversation reflected the experiences and anxieties of their generation. Sara Sadhwani, a Pomona politics professor, co-moderated the debate.
Political conversations about young people too often happen without them present. Candidates address housing, education, and jobs as separate policy areas. Many college students, however, experience mounting pressure across all three at once while also preparing to graduate into economic volatility, rapid technological change, and growing uncertainty about the future of work.
When students begin to question whether educational achievement and hard work will still lead to stability and opportunity, the issue is larger than any one election or state. Colleges and universities have a responsibility not only to expand access to educational opportunity, but also to ensure students can actively participate in the world they will inherit.
What struck me most throughout the evening was not the political theater or the pursuit of viral moments, but the seriousness our students brought to the process, even as the debate grew raucous. They engaged deeply with the issues being discussed and treated the event as an opportunity to better understand the people seeking to lead their state. Dozens of students took on important volunteer roles, welcoming and staffing candidates, ushering VIP guests, working with visiting media, and supporting in-house operations.
The power of experiential learning in civic life
Colleges and universities have long claimed a role in preparing students for citizenship. But that preparation too often stops at the classroom door, at courses on democratic theory, simulations of civic processes, and hypothetical debates about policy. Much rarer is direct engagement with the political process itself. Experiences like these help make civic participation tangible.
This is an area where higher education can still play an essential role. Colleges and universities can provide neutral spaces for candidates across the political spectrum to present their views directly to voters. The goal is not to steer students toward particular conclusions, but to encourage thoughtful engagement with the democratic process.
Despite the charged political climate surrounding so much public debate, our students understood the assignment: to shine more light on topics of importance to all Californians.
When young people disengage from politics, it is seldom about apathy. It is more often driven by the quiet conviction that their concerns are being swept aside. Offering students roles in these conversations, as questioners and organizers and citizens, is one of the most direct ways to counter that drift. That was the lasting lesson of debate night: not simply that candidates came to campus, but that students stepped forward to meet them with candor and conviction.
Higher education should create more opportunities like this, not only for the benefit of students and voters, but for the health of our democratic society.
G. Gabrielle Starr is president of Pomona College.