Should Colleges Develop Civic Responsibility in Students (and If So, How)?
Even in times that aren’t as politically polarized as the present, it can be difficult to find common ground around what “civic responsibility” means and whether and how it is the duty of colleges to develop it in their students.
For this “Hot Topics in Higher Education,” read some of the resources below and come ready to discuss these and other questions:
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- Does civic responsibility involve a deep understanding of our country’s history, and if so, is it the staunchly patriotic version of our history promoted by the Trump administration and the America First Policy Institute, the provocatively critical version offered by the Pulitzer Center and the 1619 Project, or something else?
- Should civic responsibility mean ensuring as many students as possible exercise their right to vote, as required by the Higher Education Act and encouraged by organizations like the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, or should it mean limiting steps to register student voters and taking extra precautions against voting fraud as directed in the U.S. Department of Education’s recent Dear Colleague letter?
- Is it more civically responsible to open campuses to the full range of speakers and their ideas that may interest students, or to limit the expression of those ideas to just those acceptable by the left or by the right?
- Should colleges elevate opportunities for students to become community organizers for their chosen causes through organizations like Campus Compact, or help them focus on their chosen professions through more narrowly tailored work-based learning opportunities like internships, apprenticeships and clinical experiences?
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4/6, 12-1pm, L244 Lawrence Campus
Registration: https://northernessex.wufoo.com/forms/z1n4rlxv15ab1s0/
