Irshad Manji and Harold Ford, each of whom teaches at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate of Public Service at N.Y.U., are among the top 25 “most influential voices of the American center,” according to the online magazine The Daily Beast.

Manji, director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University and visiting scholar, and Ford, distinguished practitioner in residence and former congressman, are part of what the April 1, 2010, piece describes as a “powerful backlash brewing – a movement of voices from the vital center who are declaring their independence from play-to-the-base politics.”

“The independent thinker doesn’t belong to a camp,” Manji has written. “She belongs to her conscience.”

See the gallery at thedailybeast.com.