With much at stake and many challenges ahead, it’s natural to wonder: What can I do? For many, the temptation is to throw up their hands in frustration, but giving in to hopelessness is not an option. I spoke with three leaders in the higher education and nonprofit world who remind us that while we may not be able to change everything overnight, we can make a difference—by starting right where we are.
Ben Ralston, the president and CEO of the Sachs Foundation, encourages people to focus their energy on what they can change. He shared, “It is important to spend time, effort, and energy on the things we can change and do our best to come to terms with the things we can’t. What we can do is continue to advocate for those around us. We should always say (loudly) what is not normal about this moment.” Ralston also stressed the importance of small, everyday actions: “Consider our own spheres of influence and how we can affect those within it. Keep being philanthropic. Support organizations that have a shared vision of the community we want.”
Worried about children at this time who might catch snippets of what is happening in the nation, Ralston suggested, “Show empathy to our children. Read them stories and discuss the morals.” And to protect yourself and your own mental health, he offered, “Gather with friends. Tell your partner you love them. Take a breath before getting back in the fight.” Overall, Ralston offered a message of resilience: “No single one of us can pull the emergency brake on the federal government. But that doesn’t mean we can’t fight for the world we want. We just need to start in our immediate surroundings and build outward.”
Larry Moneta, an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the former vice president for student affairs at Duke University, highlighted the need for strategic action. He stated, “First, take care of yourself and each other.” He warned equity champions to be prepared for opposition: “Expect dissemination of false tropes, misguided accusations, and politically expedient lies. That pattern is already apparent and will likely get far worse.”
Moneta emphasized that legal and collective action are critical: “Focus on where legal challenges offer the best opportunity for pushback. Coalitions working within identity groups and across groups with challenges in common will be essential.” He cautioned against disjoined efforts: “Fragmentation of responses will dilute potential impact. We need far more dissemination of evidence of the destructive behavior of the current regime and of efforts to convey the truth.”
Karen Gross, Southern Vermont College’s former president and senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Education, acknowledged the emotional toll of confronting systemic injustice. She shared, “When confronted with a bully or meanness or folks usurping power and overreaching and assuming as a given that it is their way or the highway, it is easy to want to back down or throw up one’s arms in despair and spend plentiful time bemoaning the state of the world.” She offered a variety of strategies for those fighting for equity. These include:
1. Speak up and out regularly, using one’s voice to respond directly to untoward decisions, behavior, or actions.
2. Don’t let meanness, nasty rhetoric, and snarkiness become a norm: call out those behaviors rather than walking away, whether they occur in one’s public or private life. Message: mean behavior will not be tolerated in my world.
3. Find affinity groups that are taking action, whether that means lawsuits. research briefs, advocacy, or outreach; there is power in numbers; there is comfort in shared efforts; action helps, even when it isn’t totally successful.
4. Fear and retaliation are tools that bullies use; while they actually are weak, these individuals and their followers think they can scare dissenters off. Some folks will indeed back down or back away for many reasons. But action speaks for others, especially if we can see the dangers of schoolyard bullies. When our core values are threatened, find allies, stand your ground, and offer resistance. And while that might feel dangerous, it is more dangerous to do nothing.
As these leaders explain, change rarely comes in a single, defining moment. More often, it is the accumulation of small but persistent efforts—conversations that shift perspectives, acts of defiance that expose injustice, and communities that refuse to be silenced. When faced with overwhelming challenges, the most effective response is not despair but action. According to these leaders, change happens when we refuse to accept injustice as the norm.