For years, Erhardt Graeff, Associate Professor of Social and Computer Science at Olin College of Engineering, taught about democracy and technology. His students studied social movements, digital media, civic technology, and the ways people organize to shape public life. They examined national elections, international politics, and the role technology plays in democratic participation. Graeff’s own career followed the same trajectory. As a scholar, he explored the intersection of technology and politics, earning graduate degrees focused on civic engagement before teaching future engineers how technological systems shape democratic life.

Now Graeff teaches through democracy.

The shift didn’t emerge primarily from his research. It grew out of his own experience serving as a library trustee and elected Town Meeting member in Needham, Massachusetts. What began as a way to contribute to his community became a lesson in the virtues that democratic life requires: humility, courage, integrity, patience, and perseverance.

“I had to show up and be like, ‘Here’s what I don’t know,’ and just sit there and listen and learn and talk to as many folks as I could who had expertise and experience,” Graeff said.

Serving in local government taught Graeff that democracy depends less on having the right answers than on cultivating the character to seek them together. Expertise matters, but so does the humility to recognize that communities possess knowledge no professional or elected official can acquire alone.

Democracy also requires courage. Not the dramatic courage of grand speeches or whistleblowing, but the quieter courage of speaking when necessary and remaining silent when others should be heard. Every Town Meeting became an exercise in discernment. Should he step to the microphone? Should he trust the judgment of others? Was this the moment to challenge a proposal or the moment to listen?

“I’ve been teaching my students that courage is figuring out how to work well together with other people… And I really saw that play out in Town Meeting,” he said. “It’s this dance you’re trying to figure out—this mix of humility and courage and integrity.”

That dance unfolds over time. Unlike the pace of social media or national politics, local democracy asks citizens to commit themselves to problems that may take years to resolve. Character is formed not only in moments of decision, but in the steady work of showing up, listening, and remaining faithful to the common good.

“You don’t appreciate what that means to live on the time scales necessary to do local policy development until you’re in it.”

Graeff’s civic experience has reshaped his teaching at Olin. He still introduces students to political theory and civic technology, but he increasingly encourages them to see democracy not as something that happens somewhere else, carried out by other people, but as a practice rooted in the places they call home.

“It’s not just about the jobs that they have, but it’s about who they are,” he said. “They’re going to live somewhere. They should care about that place and contribute to it.”

For Graeff, that may be one of higher education’s most important responsibilities. Universities prepare students for successful careers, but they should also prepare them to become good neighbors and thoughtful citizens.