Campus Compact: Bolstering our public purpose through policy & advocacy work

Posted by Campus Compact on March 3, 2026

February 11 & 12th marked Campus Compact’s 3rd annual Presidents Policy & Impact Summit, which brings college and university presidents together in Washington, DC to discuss shared priorities—ensuring civic and community engagement remains central to our institutions’ missions, building a new era of dialogue and progress with elected officials, and moving toward a more unified strategy across campuses. This year’s summit was hosted by The George Washington University.

Learn more about the summit here.

Find tools and resources to help you in your policy & advocacy work:

• Check out the report “The Exit Interview” from Future Caucus to explore the challenges facing emerging lawmakers and envision where higher education might contribute.
• Read Lorelei Kelley’s article, “Digitizing Democracy: Bridging the Gap Between Congress and Higher Education Through AI and Modernization” to learn how Higher Education can more effectively engage with congress through efforts to modernize.
• Use the “Guide for Organizing Civil Society Field Hearings” resource as a teaching tool to learn about the role of Congress in the Constitution and take action.
• Leverage resources from the Campus Free Expression Project to find policy and program suggestions that restore open discourse on campuses and foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for robust intellectual exchange.
• Access “The Change Leadership Toolkit for Advancing Systemic Change” for a research-based, step-by-step guide for campus leaders at all levels to better understand systemic change, their own systemic change ecosystem, and how they can map out the opportunities they have, the barriers they must overcome, and the strategic change leader “moves” or actions they can take to more effectively and manageably reach change goals.