Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
October 22
On the heels of the 12th vote to reopen the government on the 22nd day of what would become the longest shutdown in American history, Senator Lisa Murkowski gave Eagles a real-time lesson on the importance of political compromise.
“There is nothing good that comes from a shutdown,” Murkowski told Betsy Fischer Martin, SPA/BA ’92, SOC/MA ’96, executive director of AU’s Women and Politics Institute, which hosted the discussion. “Both sides think they’re winning,” and when that happens, “there’s no incentive to say, ‘Well, maybe this is not working.’”
The senior senator from Alaska—and the first woman from the Last Frontier elected to the United States Senate—has made a career out of reaching across the aisle.
According to ProPublica, Murkowski is the Senate’s second-most frequent Republican dissenter, trailing only Susan Collins (R-ME) in votes cast against her party’s position. In 2017 she voted against a GOP measure to permanently repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and was one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge in 2021.
“When I came to the Senate, there was so much working back and forth,” she said. “We didn’t talk a lot about bipartisanship because we just did it. It’s not to say that it’s gone, but the divide between the parties is so much greater now.”
Nonetheless, Murkowski said she would never tell a fellow lawmaker that “they need to have more courage” because her base is much different from that of an Arkansas or Ohio Republican.
“The folks who have returned me to the Senate are Republicans, Democrats, independents, nonpartisans, Greens, libertarians. It’s an eclectic group who said, ‘We expect that you’re listening to all of us, not just your party.’”
Murkowski admitted her perspective is shaped not just by who her voters are, but how they elected her. After losing her 2010 primary to a Tea Party candidate, Murkowski won a rare write-in victory, a feat requiring voters to correctly spell her 13-letter, five-syllable name.
More than 101,000 Alaskans did. Not since Strom Thurmond (R-SC) in 1954 had an independent write-in candidate been elected to the Senate.
“That’s where I feel like I [have] more political freedom. When I was returned to the Senate in 2010, I was not returned by the Republican Party,” she said. “I was just Lisa—Lisa with no [R] after it.”
Murkowski was only the 32nd woman in the Senate when she was seated in 2002; there have been another 32 in the years since. She encouraged the women in the audience to consider running.
“Don’t wait for the perfect moment [because] there will never ever be a good time. You’ll need to . . . figure out how to do more with the few hours [you] have. Women are pretty good at that.”
Murkowski shared one of the ways she carved out more time: “I just had to give up on the laundry.”
Former Representative Dick Gephardt (D-MO)
October 4
“My great worry today is that people will say, ‘Government doesn’t work very well. Congress is dysfunctional. Let’s give up on this and turn it over to one person.’ We can’t do that. This is America. Citizenship in this democracy is not just about rights—it’s about responsibilities.”
The former House majority leader, who served 14 terms in the House, conversed with former Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and President Jon Alger during a Family Weekend event presented as part of the Civic Life Presidential Speaker Series.
General Stanley McChrystal
September 17
“When they came out of World War II, veterans thought that they had the right to say something. We need to create that kind of dynamic again. We need to empower an entire generation.”
The retired Army general suggested a year of national service, whether the military or a program like AmeriCorps, to ensure young Americans feel the “ability and the right to speak up.” He was joined was joined in conversation by journalist Judy Woodruff, former anchor of PBS News Hour, during Civics, Citizenship, and the Constitution, a conference sponsored by More Perfect and iCivics and hosted by the Washington College of Law.
Catie Griggs
November 11
“I compete with your couch.”
The president of business operations for the Baltimore Orioles—and the first woman in the franchise’s 125-year history to hold the role— said it’s “a heck of a lot easier and cheaper” to watch a game at home than at Camden Yards. That’s why, she told Kogod dean David Marchick, business operations staff from all 30 Major League Baseball clubs band together to share best practices to grow the sport. Kogod hosted Griggs as part of the Alan Meltzer CEO Speaker Series.
Ambassador Brooke Anderson
October 21
“When I was a kid, my mother, who had some resources and was a very independent person, could not get a credit card without a signature from my father. She was humiliated. That world does not exist today—but there are [still] challenges.”
As president of Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’s global philanthropic organization, Anderson said that helping women realize their political, economic, and social power “drives positive progress on every single issue I care about.” The Sine Institute’s 2025 distinguished lecturer and former US ambassador to the United Nations encouraged students to set equally “audacious goals” for themselves, then commit their professional lives to achieving them.
Len Elmore
October 9
“You can’t really choose pro sports—they choose you. That’s why they have a draft.”
The first and only NBA veteran to graduate from Harvard Law School, Elmore is cochair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which cohosted with American University the National Symposium on the Educational Value of Sport. During his panel with Washington Post columnist Kevin Blackistone, Elmore argued that college sports—particularly elite Division I programs—“need to prioritize education as opposed to financialization,” as less than 2 percent of NCAA athletes go pro.
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
October 13
“Reservation Dogs doesn’t exist because a studio executive said, ‘You know what, we need more Indigenous stories.’”
The Canadian Mohawk actress, who garnered critical acclaim for her role as Elora Danan on the FX show—the first American series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors and an almost entirely Indigenous cast and crew—encouraged students to build community around issues they care about and pull each other up as they find success, whether in Hollywood or on the Hill. AU hosted Jacobs on Indigenous Peoples Day during an event cosponsored by Students for Change, the Center for Student Belonging, and the Native American and Indigenous Student Association.