Leaning into Politics: Educating for Democracy in a Tough Political Climate

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Democratic decline, both in the United States and globally, lack of confidence in political institutions, and an increasingly violent and divisive political climate raise many questions about the state of political learning and civic engagement in higher education.


A decade ago, a U.S. Department of Education task force called on higher education institutions to affirm their missions to educate for democracy. Relatively few have made the investment, though dozens of higher education associations and organizations have publicly committed their support to prepare students to address the persistent public issues they are inheriting. One major research institute has challenged colleges and universities to build year-round political learning opportunities for all students throughout the undergraduate experience.


While there has been a recent upward spike in rote civic knowledge and historically high youth voting rates in recent elections, the United States has seen a decline in political rights and civil liberties over the last decade and has been listed as a backsliding democracy. This coincides with problematic rhetoric and growing scrutiny from public officials on how colleges and universities educate students on public issues, particularly those centered on race, ethnicity and social justice. Some universities have even had budgets slashed for promoting such programming while other states have passed legislation targeting related instruction. At risk are academic freedom and freedom of speech - core tenets of a liberal education.


So what is to be done? All presenters on this panel a contributors of the forthcoming text Leaning into Politics: Higher Education’s Role in Building the Democracy We Need (Information Age Publishing). Papers address the influence and scope of the burgeoning nonprofit student voter engagement space, creating a civic ethos on a campus where one does not exist and democratic engagement has not been prioritized, using a data-driven approach to building a diverse and inclusive campus-wide political engagement coalition, building college student civic efficacy across a range required and optional interventions, and an empirical understanding of ways student organizations (e.g., service clubs and sports teams) promote and sometimes suppress political engagement across groups.

Sub Unit

• Division 58: Civic Engagement

Individual Presentations

• Building a Civic Ethos from Scratch - Karen M. Kedrowski, Iowa State University

• In the Room When It Happens: Data Driven Analysis to Build Inclusive Coalitions - Leah A. Murray, Weber State University

• Developing Empowered Citizens: How Universities Help Build Efficacy - Laurie L. Rice, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Ken Moffett, Independent researcher

• Opening the “Pod” Doors: The Public Intellectual in an Age of Democratic Decline - Saladin Malik Ambar, Eagleton Institute of Politics - Rutgers University

• Political Socialization in Campus Life: Can Student Organizations Replicate Civic Learning in Tocqueville’s Voluntary Associations? - J. Cherie Strachan, The University of Akron; Elizabeth A. Bennion, Indiana University South Bend; Michael Wolf, Purdue University Fort Wayne

Chair

• Abraham Goldberg James Madison University

Discussants

• Carah Ong Whaley University of Virginia

• Abraham Goldberg James Madison University