{"id":325,"date":"2023-05-17T11:37:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T15:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hlsorgs3stg.wpenginepowered.com\/equaldemocracy\/?page_id=325"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T20:05:23","slug":"democracy-day","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/issues\/democracy-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><b>EDP calls on Harvard Law School\u2014and Harvard University\u2014to designate Election Day an academic holiday, just as several other law schools and universities already have.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvard\u2019s current Election Day policy\u2014which continues course instruction and lacks integrated civic engagement programming\u2014imposes barriers to voting for students, staff, and faculty alike. It also misses an incredible opportunity to elevate the importance of democratic participation and engaged citizenship as a core Harvard value.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Equal Democracy Project, in collaboration with Harvard College student organizers Lily Richman (\u201824) and Alex Park (\u201823) and JD\/MPP Mark Haidar (&#8217;23), led an advocacy campaign for \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1g1_YvygQMm9d3UTZfKj2lEJXDiDwDZ6Z\/view\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Democracy Day<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d \u2014 a University holiday that would encourage voting and civic engagement for all federal elections. This advocacy campaign took place from January to May 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Democracy Day generated remarkable cross-campus support from over <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1_aUKhbOXe0KoWoeUwNcylKGFPv4udCZI-4igCB58-DU\/edit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2,200 Harvard affiliates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All 14 student government bodies across Harvard<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">250+ faculty (spanning all Harvard schools)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">380+ administrators, staff, and academic Appointees<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">90+ campus organizations (including Harvard College Democrats and Harvard College Republicans, HLS Democrats and HLS Republicans, and HLS American Constitution Society and HLS Federalist Society)&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>EDP encourages students, faculty, and staff to continue advocating for Democracy Day\u2014with the goal of making it a reality by the 2024 election<\/strong>. To this end, please see below for relevant advocacy resources and press coverage, as well as a list of other law schools and universities that have already designated Election Day a school holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Advocacy Resources <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1_aUKhbOXe0KoWoeUwNcylKGFPv4udCZI-4igCB58-DU\/edit\">Letter of Support for Democracy Day from the Harvard Community<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The key advocacy document with the 2,200+ Harvard signatories.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1g1_YvygQMm9d3UTZfKj2lEJXDiDwDZ6Z\/view\">Democracy Day at Harvard University \u2013 Concept Paper<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A detailed proposal that makes the case for Democracy Day, provides sample programming, and responds to counterarguments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1PcTc_ZRm0_oKEFVCXR20fkx2phHMxq-rjB1IeeuX76Q\/edit\">Joint Resolution to Make Election Day a University Holiday (i.e. \u201cDemocracy Day\u201d)<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Joint Resolution passed by all 14 Harvard student government bodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Democracy Day Press Coverage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2021\/4\/8\/hundreds-petition-for-election-day-off\/\">Hundreds Sign Letter Asking Harvard to Designate Election Day as University-Wide \u2018Democracy Day\u2019<\/a>&nbsp;(The Harvard Crimson)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2021\/4\/21\/harvard-needs-democracy-days\/\">Harvard Needs Democracy Days<\/a>&nbsp;(The Harvard Crimson Editorial Board)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2021\/4\/20\/haidar-democracy-day\/\">President Bacow, Implement Democracy Day<\/a>&nbsp;(Mark Haidar, EDP President 2019-2021)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Law Schools with Holiday <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.berkeley.edu\/academics\/current-academic-calendars\/2020-2021-academic-calendar\/\">UC Berkeley Law<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wwws.law.northwestern.edu\/student-life\/events\/eventsdisplay.cfm?i=175964\">Northwestern Law<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/law.ucla.edu\/academics\/academic-calendar\">UCLA Law<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lls.edu\/academics\/experientiallearning\/publicinterestprobonoservices\/electionengagement\/\">Loyola Law<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Universities with Holiday <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/civics.stanford.edu\/news\/election-day-now-holiday-stanford\">Stanford University<\/a>&nbsp;(previously a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/law.stanford.edu\/event\/election-day-no-law-school-classes\/\">SLS-only holiday<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brown.edu\/about\/administration\/provost\/communications\/election-day-university-holiday\">Brown University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/humanresources.columbia.edu\/events\/election-day-2021\">Columbia University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thesuffolkjournal.com\/30573\/news\/election-day-holiday-bill-passed-through-the-senate\/\">Suffolk University<\/a>,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/campusadvisories.gwu.edu\/university-holiday-election-day\">George Washington University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.american.edu\/president\/announcements\/october-5-2020.cfm\">American University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/14\/media-advisory-augsburg-makes-election-day-2020-a-university-holiday\/\">Augsburg University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/today.wayne.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/14\/election-day-2020-university-holiday-approach-40720\">Wayne State University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lesley.edu\/news\/academic-holiday-makes-election-a-time-of-reflection\">Lesley University<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; EDP calls on Harvard Law School\u2014and Harvard University\u2014to designate Election Day an academic holiday, just as several other law [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1926,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-325","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1926"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/325\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/equaldemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}