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Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill
Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill is director of the Campus Free Expression Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Earlier in her career, she was Executive Director of the Fund for Academic Renewal, a program of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. She has been an adviser to Washington think tanks and educational nonprofit organizations. Prior to her work in the nonprofit sector, Jacqueline served on the faculties of St. John’s College and the College of William & Mary. She has published articles about political philosophy, philanthropy, and higher education in journals such as The New Atlantis, Society, and Philanthropy.
Jacqueline earned her M.A. and Ph.D. Duke University and her B.A. from the University of Calgary.
Jacqueline is a trustee of the American Academy of Liberal Education. She was a trustee and president of Advocates for the Goucher Prison Education Partnership, and she has taught in the college program at Maryland’s only prison for women. She lives with her husband and their children in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Views expressed are her own.
When remembering Martin Luther King, we should remember his identity as a scholar and professor—and the role that liberal education played in his life.
With increasing wealth inequality, more parents are more concerned to foster generosity in their kids. A new children’s book from Adam and Allison Grant seeks to teach children about gift-giving.
We often operate under the misconception that scholarships are the only—or at least best—way to support first-generation college students. That’s not the case, and there are several alternative ways to support first-gen students instead.
Rob Reich’s book “Just Giving” is thoughtful and serious. But philanthropy has more varied aims than justice, and the pluralism he celebrates can only be fully honored when we allow philanthropists to pursue their own highest ideals.