EXPERTISE: Higher Education, Election Protection, Voter Participation, Politics & Policy
Short Bio
ETHAN ROME is the National Director of the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education, and a social justice leader and democracy champion with decades of experience building progressive power and advancing racial, gender, and economic justice. Rome specializes in leading non-profit organizations and large-scale legislative, electoral, and grassroots campaigns. Full bio below.
About the Campaign
The Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education is a national coalition founded to oppose the Trump Administration’s assault on higher education and to fight for free public college and increased federal support for higher education of all kinds. We are committed to defending and improving higher education as a driver of economic mobility, racial and gender justice, and a foundation of a free society.
The Emergency Campaign is a big-tent effort uniting students, faculty, staff, and their unions with alumni, community organizations, and courageous administrators. We comprise more than 30 organizations, including the AAUP-AFT, Campus Climate Network, Crimson Courage, Faith in Action, Higher Education Labor United, Indivisible, National Education Association, Ohio Student Association, Sunrise Movement, and the United States Student Association. We are a project of Faith in Action.
Full Bio
ETHAN S. ROME is the National Director of the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education, and a social justice leader and democracy champion with decades of experience building progressive power and advancing racial, gender, and economic justice. Rome specializes in leading non-profit organizations and large-scale legislative, electoral, and grassroots campaigns.
Previously, Rome served as the Chief of Strategy and Program at Issue One (IO), a leading democracy organization, where he oversaw national campaigns to protect U.S. elections and address the negative impacts of social media on our democracy. Rome led the $15 million Count Every Vote campaign in 2020 and helped lead a coalition effort to establish the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and update the Electoral Count Act in 2022 to ensure a peaceful transition of presidential power.
Prior to joining Issue One, Rome was the Executive Director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the coalition that ran a five-year, $63 million campaign to pass, protect, and promote the Affordable Care Act. Before joining HCAN, Rome directed national communications for the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and served as a consultant to CWA and SEIU.
Before coming to Washington, DC, Rome had a fourteen-year career in Connecticut politics. He served as the Policy and Communications Director for the Speaker of the House and built one of the nation’s first political operations for a state legislative caucus. He co-directed a successful coalition campaign to enact a state income tax that is now responsible for 50% of the state’s revenue. Rome began his career as a community organizer for the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, an economic justice organization.
Rome has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Radical Democracy from Wesleyan University.